But YouTube isn’t so well thought of in several parts of the world, notably China where it has been blocked since March of 2009, nearly a full decade of silence. Luckily, there are ways you can access your YouTube account when you’re visiting China for work or a holiday (especially if you’re already paying for a subscription!).
Here are nine ways to unblock YouTube in China.
1. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN):
A VPN operates by establishing a connection between your computer and a remote server situated in a jurisdiction outside of China. The proximity of the remote server to China determines the internet speed you can attain. Any request, such as accessing YouTube, is transmitted through a secure and encrypted tunnel connecting your computer and the remote server. At the server, the request is decrypted and assigned a new IP address corresponding to the country where the server is located. The modified request is then forwarded to the internet, bypassing the Chinese firewall. When information is received from the internet, it is routed back through the remote server, where it undergoes encryption and is transmitted through the protective “tunnel,” preventing Chinese protocols from accessing the content. While you should exercise caution if you decide to use a VPN within China’s borders, you likely won’t be prosecuted for doing so. The common practice is that China fights VPNs by technologically blocking the services, and not by chasing after the people who use them. Two quality choices in VPN to unblock YouTube in China are PrivateVPN and ExpressVPN.
1ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is in the British Virgin Islands and has the best speed in the industry along with unlimited bandwidth and server switches. Try ExpressVPN risk-free!
2Private VPN
Sweden’s PrivateVPN is excellent for use in China because it has an automatic killswitch should the connection slip, keeping you safe from prying eyes. Try PrivateVPN risk-free!
2. Use a proxy website.
Proxies are like VPNs in some ways except that the proxy won’t encrypt your data; it merely allows it to flow through. It changes your location with a different IP address like a VPN, but your ISP can monitor all your activities, which is particularly bad if you’re being monitored as the proxy routes YouTube videos or searches back through to your computer
3. Use Browser Add-Ons:
The majority of web browsers come with additional features known as add-ons, which enhance the convenience of using frequently visited websites. In the case of YouTube, there are specific add-ons available such as ProxTube for Firefox and Proxflow for Chrome. These add-ons utilize US proxy servers, allowing you to access YouTube even when you are abroad. However, it is important to note that these add-ons share a vulnerability common to proxies: your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can potentially observe the information you transmit and receive while using them.
4. Google Translate:
Confused? Don’t be. When you insert a URL into Google Translate, it reroutes that URL to another domain; one not blocked by your network administration.
5. The power of ‘S’:
Most websites are entered manually when they are blacklisted, such as “http://www.youtube.com”. However, that’s not the only way to access YouTube. You can add an “s” to the “http” to try and make it through the secure version of YouTube.
6. Download YouTube videos without visiting YouTube:
There are many websites that let you search for files on YouTube without specifically going to YouTube. This allows you to download MP3 or MP4 files legally. You can also search for results like “Star Wars trailer” and find the link to a page on YouTube, then copy and paste it on a YouTube download site. My team and I don’t condone illegal activity so please make sure the files you download are free of copyright.
7. Try competing websites:
The likes of Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Metacafe are not as popular as YouTube for a reason, but they still have reasonable libraries themselves. And there are more video websites popping up all the time. Try and find new ones that contain the same videos you want to watch on YouTube.
8. Use the Tor browser:
Tor is an anonymous browser that sends data packets to random relay points all over the world to prevent hackers or your own ISP from seeing your online activity. The website in question never sees your real IP address, only that of the last relay node it went through. Tor’s legality and availability in China are questionable. If you’re planning on visiting the country, consider downloading the Tor browser before you arrive in China to ensure you access to it.
9. Set up a Proxy in your Browser:
It will take a few technical steps and constant refreshing, but you can set up your own proxy in a browser like Firefox.
