As one of China’s busiest and most important cities, Shanghai is among the toughest places in the world to access the internet. Like the rest of China, Shanghai is severely restricted in terms of what websites are made available to its citizens. Social networking, news, political and religious websites are among those that can either be completely impossible to access or are so slow to load that you might just as well not bother. Whether you are a citizen of Shanghai or a visitor to the country, there is a way to get around the restrictions and access the internet just as freely as you like. All you will need is a Virtual Private Network, or VPN.
How Severe is the Censorship in Shanghai, China?
The internet in general is incredibly slow in Shanghai, because the government has shackled it with a great deal of filters and firewalls known as The Great Firewall. Some sites have been censored altogether, and not just the most obvious candidates. Sites that express political or religious views that the government deems unseemly are generally banned, but so are social networking sites that the rest of the world takes for granted, like Facebook and Twitter. It is not possible to watch videos on YouTube or post photographs on Flickr and you will not be able to share your experiences on Blogspot. Fortunately, a China VPN will make all these sites available at much more reasonable speeds.
How Do I Find the Best VPN Service for Shanghai, China?
There are plenty of VPN services for China that will claim to be able to help you bypass the censorship in Shanghai, but how can you tell which will live up to its promise? There are a few things to be looking out for. First and foremost, you want a VPN with a range of security protocols. Your data will be sent across the internet through an encryption tunnel and its strength is a vital component of your security. You will want to choose a VPN provider with a range of protocols, in case you run into trouble with one type or you need to use a different one to utilize a secondary device. You will also want to be sure that you can change these on the fly and that you can connect to servers outside China, as this will give you the browsing freedom you need. Finally, it’s important that your provider can offer you plenty of speed.
Our experts have long experience of using VPNs to bypass internet restrictions and know which ones will give you the best and safest experience. We’ve shared their top five choices in the comparison table below to help you make your choice:
| Rank | Provider | Starting Price | Money Back |
Visit Provider |
| 1 | ExpressVPN | $6.67 /Month | 30 Days |  |
| 2 | Hidemyass | $6.55/ Month | 30 Days | |
| 3 | iPVanish | $10.00/Month | 7 Days | |
| 4 | StrongVPN | $21/ 3 Months | 7 Days | |
| 5 | VyprVPN | $14.95/Month | 7 Days | |
