Email Access

TravelGuy

I see in the Tauck “ How You See the World Matters” that many popular websites (such as Gmail, Google, Facebook and others) are blocked by the Chinese government and are thus unavailable.

What email service provider is not blocked?

gregoryjones1022

When my wife and I were on the Tauck Tour in October 2013 Yahoo mail worked just fine. This is a great tour. You should have a great time.

Greg Jones

[Deleted User]

We used @att.net throughout our trip in 2014. Skype as well (voice only) without any problem.

Internet in mainland China was very fast though, as you note, censored. Very uneven and illogical to the casual observer. CNN wasn't blocked, but the New York Times was (the latter had done something which specifically ticked off the government). What is blocked and not blocked can change without notice.

Once you get to HK, then everything is open.

It is a great trip and very educational in the broadest sense of the word (culture, politics, technology, dining, architecture, natural wonders, history, ...).

TravelGuy

Thanks all for the info.

gregoryjones1022

TravelGuy wrote:

I see in the Tauck “ How You See the World Matters” that many popular websites (such as Gmail, Google, Facebook and others) are blocked by the Chinese government and are thus unavailable.

What email service provider is not blocked?

I have a friend who is currently in China. We just exchanged emails on his Gmail account so who knows from day to day.

Greg Jones

TravelGuy

In October my gmail worked in Hong Kong but not on the mainland. Att.net and hotmail.com did work at all locations.

AlyssaAnggita

TravelGuy wrote:

In October my gmail worked in Hong Kong but not on the mainland. Att.net and hotmail.com did work at all locations.

You can bypass it and use vpn (there's lots of cheap, moderate speed vpn that you can easily download in app-store if you use iphone or playstore if you use other smartphone). it worked just fine for me to use google and other restricted applications in mainland china.