The thing most people get wrong
Everyone asks which VPN to use in China. The better answer is usually: don't. Use a roaming eSIM.
A travel eSIM from a provider like Airalo, Holafly or Nomad routes your data through its home network outside China. Your traffic never touches the Chinese consumer internet, so Google, Gmail, Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram and your banking app all simply work. No app to configure, nothing to be throttled, nothing that stops working after an update.
Install it before you land
This is the part people miss. Buying and activating an eSIM needs normal internet, and the providers' own sites are not reliably reachable from inside China. Install the profile at home, then switch it on when you land.
Keep your home SIM in the phone for SMS — you will want it for bank verification codes.
What's blocked on local wifi and local SIMs
Google (search, Gmail, Maps, Drive, Photos), WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, Reddit, Wikipedia in part, most Western news sites, and many Western AI tools.
What works: Apple services including iMessage and Apple Maps, Microsoft services including Bing and Outlook, and most airline and hotel sites.
If you do want a VPN as well
Install and test it before you arrive; the download pages are blocked once you are there. Treat it as a backup to the eSIM rather than your main plan — VPN reliability in China varies week to week, and dramatically around political dates.
Also download before you fly
- Offline maps for every city you will visit
- An offline translation pack for Chinese
- Your boarding passes and hotel confirmations as files
- Your readiness checklist and phrase cards, so they work with no signal