Guess what Chinese travellers are bringing back home? VPNs, lots of them

From VPNs shopped abroad to DIYs and fake US addresses, the inveterate Chinese netizen will do anything to dodge the Great Firewall

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Passengers wait in lines to pass through customs of Beijing's International Airport. Some travellers from China are downloading VPN apps while overseas that allow them unfiltered access to the internet. Handout photo

Published: 3:15pm, 6 Oct 2017Updated: 10:12pm, 6 Oct 2017

Recently Jack WANG, a Chinese student who went to Germany for an exchange programme returned home to Beijing with a few personal items he had purchased abroad, such as kitchenware and skincare products. But there were also a few things he chose to keep under wraps as he passed through customs, because he knew they wouldn’t make the Chinese authorities happy – a set of censor-fighting smartphone apps.

While the names and developers of the apps seem to constantly vary, they all serve Jack’s single mission – to get unfiltered access to the internet.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are the most common way for Chinese internet users to bypass government censors. “Now, I can get around the Great Firewall,” said Jack (name changed), referring to a government-led surveillance project that blocks access to many popular websites including Google and Facebook. With Beijing ramping up efforts to shut down VPNs, the 27-year-old said he downloaded all the free VPN apps he could possibly find while abroad, just “in case some wouldn’t work”.

Jack’s surreptitious souvenirs from Germany suggest that the battle between China’s government censors and internet users is far from over, despite the fact that Beijing has successfully killed many domestic VPN apps and brought an American tech giant to its feet.

“We don’t think the current crackdown will end the cat-and-mouse game,” a spokesman at VPNdada, a website that monitors China’s VPN use said. Chinese netizens cite the desire for free flow of internet information, socialising with Facebook friends, and even watching funny videos at YouTube as primary reasons why they are hooked into VPNs.

President Xi Jinping has made cyber sovereignty a priority for national security. Photo: Reuters