Country brief · Updated August 13, 2026
Using a VPN in China
Only state-approved VPN services are lawful for commercial use, and the national filtering system actively detects and blocks standard VPN protocols.
Only approved services permitted
What actually matters here
Obfuscation or open-source clients that can be inspected for detectable fingerprints.
Most country pages on the web recycle the same global ranking with a place name attached. This one filters on the capability that the situation in China actually calls for, which is why 5 of our 11 providers qualify rather than all of them.
Highest-scoring provider that meets it: Proton VPN, 90.0/100.
Visit Proton VPNWe earn a commission if you subscribe through this link. It does not change Proton VPN’s score.
The legal position
Chinese regulations require VPN operators serving cross-border traffic to be licensed by the state. Unlicensed commercial VPN provision has been prosecuted. Enforcement against individual foreign visitors using a personal VPN has historically been rare, but the legal position is not equivalent to a country where VPN use is simply lawful.
This is a summary of publicly reported regulation, not legal advice. Rules in this area change without much notice and enforcement varies. If the consequences of getting it wrong are serious for you, check the current position locally.
What the network does
The national filtering infrastructure performs protocol analysis rather than only address blocking. Standard OpenVPN and WireGuard handshakes are recognisable and are frequently disrupted, which is why plain protocol support is not sufficient here. Obfuscation that makes the tunnel resemble ordinary TLS traffic is the functional requirement, and even that degrades during politically sensitive periods.
Retention and logging
Real-name registration applies to domestic telecommunications and internet services, so the account layer is identified even where the traffic layer is encrypted.
Providers that meet the requirement
| # | Provider | Based in | Protocols | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Proton VPN | Switzerland | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, Stealth | 90.0 |
| 2 | Mullvad Unpaid | Sweden | WireGuard, OpenVPN | 85.5 |
| 3 | IVPN Unpaid | Gibraltar | WireGuard, OpenVPN | 82.5 |
| 4 | Private Internet Access Unpaid | United States | WireGuard, OpenVPN | 73.0 |
| 5 | Windscribe Unpaid | Canada | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 | 67.0 |
Sources
Questions
- Is using a VPN legal in China?
- Only approved services permitted. Chinese regulations require VPN operators serving cross-border traffic to be licensed by the state. Unlicensed commercial VPN provision has been prosecuted. Enforcement against individual foreign visitors using a personal VPN has historically been rare, but the legal position is not equivalent to a country where VPN use is simply lawful.
- Which VPN works best in China?
- Proton VPN on the requirement that matters here: obfuscation or open-source clients that can be inspected for detectable fingerprints. 5 of 11 providers in our dataset meet it.
- Does the network block VPN traffic in China?
- The national filtering infrastructure performs protocol analysis rather than only address blocking. Standard OpenVPN and WireGuard handshakes are recognisable and are frequently disrupted, which is why plain protocol support is not sufficient here. Obfuscation that makes the tunnel resemble ordinary TLS traffic is the functional requirement, and even that degrades during politically sensitive periods.
- Are there logging or retention rules that affect me in China?
- Real-name registration applies to domestic telecommunications and internet services, so the account layer is identified even where the traffic layer is encrypted.