Behind the Great Chinese Firewall

Living in a foreign country presents all sorts of challenges from a new language to cultural differences to new ways of doing things. It is very demanding and draining trying to constantly adapt to a society into which you don't really fit. Fortunately, as Americans we are very accepted here in China and face relatively little bias, but that doesn't mean life is easy. Last year, I spent a bit of time with a young man from the US named Alex. After he had been in China for about two months, I asked him what he missed most about the US. He didn't miss a beat. "The convenience. Everything is so much harder to do here. I didn't know how good I had it in the US." It was a great answer and the reason I really support Americans having a cross-cultural experience in a nation that isn't first world and in a place that isn't a resort.

We faced a major challenge this year which we are still battling against: The Great Chinese Firewall. Thanks to the technology China has gained from foreign companies, China's technology is top-notch, and some of the main applications of that technology is in monitoring its citizens via cameras (which are everywhere) and through restricting the Internet. China is so good at this that they hold seminars to teach other countries how to control the internet in their country as well. Many of the websites we use regularly as Americans cannot be accessed here, and that creates a problem.

But, at the same time, many foreign businesses depend on free access to the internet, so, China allows a way for these businesses (and many individuals) to get past The Great Firewall using a VPN service. A VPN is a virtual privacy network that basically makes your computer untrackable on the internet when you connect to it. So all those blocked sites are now accessible. That is, most of the time and often at reduced speeds.

However, around the National Day holiday (in early October) China flexes its muscles and shuts down all the VPNs for about a week. It is annoying and a reason many foreigners leave China during the holiday.

But this year was different for a couple of reasons. First, this year is China's 70th anniversary of the People's Republic. There were many celebrations, a military march in Peking, and televised events. And second, this year there has been a bit of civil unrest in that little city of Hong Kong. For both of these reasons, China decided that a more extended clamp down was needed to keep people from hearing about Tianamen Square and the HK protests while they were celebrating the marvelous advancements of their state.

Well, for us that meant a much dryer spell from some of the services we rely on. Now, some of the services are more for communication with friends and family (like Facebook and Instagram) but some of them are fairly important such as Google (Gmail, Google Calendar, Blogger, Google Play, Google Voice) and losing those services make it difficult for some of our devices to function. Imagine being unable to update apps, access your email, or download new apps. Add to that the podcasts we rely on for news (such as The World and Everything in It, The Briefing, Breakpoint) were all blocked as were many of the new websites. This has become more than a minor inconvenience; it has become a headache and a waste of time. Connecting to VPNs became like trying to use a dial-up modem on an overused server. The line always seems busy, but you have to keep on dialing just in case it opens up.

Fortunately, the situation has been improving in the last week or so (obviously because I am posting this on Blogger) but still our access to some of these services is spotty and many times the data flow is greatly restricted. So, count your blessings, and the next time you encounter one of those first-world annoyances, remember that things could be -- and are in many places -- much worse. Be thankful for the things you have and don't take your freedom for granted.