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Daughter is on a 6 week trip to Asia that includes 2 weeks in Japan, 3 weeks in China and a week in S.korea, The Japan section had her sending us pics everyday either through email or facebook, now one week into the China part of the trip we are getting nothing from face book or email the only communication is through an app called Whats App Is this normal for visitors visiting China?
Facebook is blocked in China. So the only way to use Western Social Media sites in China is if one has pre-installed VPN software and service on their electronic devices before entering China.
As for Whatsapp it is a commonly used smartphone app worldwide which one can send text messages and photos very easily as long one has a wifi connection.
Daughter is on a 6 week trip to Asia that includes 2 weeks in Japan, 3 weeks in China and a week in S.korea, The Japan section had her sending us pics everyday either through email or facebook, now one week into the China part of the trip we are getting nothing from face book or email the only communication is through an app called Whats App Is this normal for visitors visiting China?
yep, that's normal!
Although, I think Email is still available....should be anyways. It's just that hardly anyone consistently checks emails anymore.
Definitely can't use facebook though.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 11-06-2014 at 08:49 AM..
Email is available.
Facebook and Instagram are blocked. Google is partially blocked.
Idk about Whatsapp. I don't think Chinese people use it at all, it's a lot more popular in Europe and North America.
Yes it's normal. But the "great firewall of china" is somewhat inconsistent, what may be blocked one day may be open the next. Faceebook is always blocked. I've seen citydata blocked before.
If you are a visiting businessman like myself, I can tell you stories....including someone trying to remotely access our computers, strange viruses introduced, and never leave your PC unoccupied in our hotel room, etc.
Facebook is totally out. There's no way to access it without a VPN, which is probably not worth it so someone who'll only be a here a week or two, but a lifeline back to the West for those of us who hang our hats here.
Google search is accessible sometimes, inaccessible others, often depending on national events. It is usually slower than death when it does work, though. You can't access US or EU google sites freely; it routes through google.cn or google.hk, though for the last couple months, the latter works over my laptop but not over my China Mobile phone.
Gmail works, ostensibly, but again it tends to be very slow and I have had multiple emails disappear into the abyss - nothing of consequence, but more like, "hey son, I emailed you last week, is everything okay? I haven't heard back from you..." which I chalk up to unreliable internet service rather than anyone intercepting my emails.
Wechat is a popular social media platform in China. I don't hear much about Whats App but it's probably not blocked, which is how she can use it.
Foreign websites blocking means China is a world of its own, China does not want full globalisation.
China is already part of the financial globilisation network and they are not "in a world of it's own" by any means. Chinese are literally my coworkers.
Internet censorship in China is more complex then that. The government simply wants what they think is the best of both worlds - capitalistic money making machines while at the same time paranoid control of it's citizens.
China is already part of the financial globilisation network and they are not "in a world of it's own" by any means. Chinese are literally my coworkers.
Internet censorship in China is more complex then that. The government simply wants what they think is the best of both worlds - capitalistic money making machines while at the same time paranoid control of it's citizens.
In fact, those who are very interested in foreign media have their way to access blocked websites, and the government does not really care that much, unless they actively spread "rumors".
English language websites are usually not blocked. Chinese language media in foreign countries, or those containing Chinese versions are sometimes blocked. However, I could browse major websites from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore when I was in China.
At certain "sensitive" times, a lot of things are blocked including Google.
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