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@CaliRay

Hotmail is okay can be used in China without VPN~

Thanks for that.

its all part of the fun of living in china!  I didnt want to leave after 14 years!! I loved it there…

I use fastmail and haven't ever had any problem, anywhere. Google don't provide internet services worldwide so always best to avoid them if you travel. I don't know what happened to Yahoo - they used to be popular in China, but seemed to be caught by GFW at some point.

IMO, most VPN clients can be downloaded while in China - though, of course, not if you use Apple iOS (ie iPhone [and iPad?]) since they only allow installing their store, and VPN clients aren't sold on their Chinese store. On other platforms, there are alternative web sites (and stores) to download clients from.

Of course, if you have a foreign SIM card with roaming and a cheap (and generous) enough data plan, you don't need to worry about any of that since those cards aren't subject to the GFW at all (what does that tell you about the legality?). In any case, it's good to have it as a backup for when VPNs don't work (which happens from time-to-time - don't fool yourself that the gov can't control them if it wants - again, what does that tell you about the legality?).

Yeah, I'm not a lawyer, so YMMV.

Thanks for the information about fastmail. I've also heard that hotmail works in China too. There seems to be a handful of different services that work in China but my limited contact with mainland residents indicates that most are unknown to the average Chinese man/woman on the street.

@CaliRay Yeah, email really isn't a thing in China any more - they've moved on to modern tech, like WeChat, and laugh at the mention of email, for personal use anyway. Email is still something for work, especially when dealing with foreigners, but they even use WeChat for work mostly, iinm. For email, they use Chinese email services like sina and sohu if they have to.

Yeah, hotmail might work - though it now seems to be 'outlook'. It's Microsoft and they try to keep their services working all over the world. LinkedIn is an issue though - it's a separate thing here since Microsoft tried to turn it into some kind of social media, so that is a bit annoying.

@mrangry I have a WeChat account but haven't been able to find anyone (friend?) who can connect so I can't use it. I've seen people on Fiverr who will connect to you but they usually want $25 or so to do it.

@CaliRay Well, that's the same for email or any chat, iinm - ie you need to actually know people to get their email address or wechat id. Have you tried to search for groups that discuss things of interest to you? If you find something, then you can join that and others on the group might decide they want to be friends outside the group too.

There's also some 'discover' features if you want to try to find some random people - ymmv.

@mrangry Thanks again. I asked Bing about getting verified and got back several options.

Recently I was able to get my WeChat working through a member here who was looking for help with English. That was nice.

@CaliRay

In my experience, most of the major email services like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook are blocked in China without a VPN. If you're there and don't have a VPN, you might try using local services like QQ Mail or 163.com, which are accessible without needing one. They're in Chinese but usually have some English support.

As for VPNs, it's true they're challenging to download while in China, so it's better to set one up before traveling. Also, if you're looking for alternative Gmail access, you might find it helpful to check out this site that sells old Gmails: digitalstorenet.com/product/old-gmails/ They offer quality hand-made Gmails with recovery email provided, delivered within 12 to 24 hours.

Everything I used to use has been blocked tighter than Grampa without his prunes and stuffed fulla cheddar and hard-tack. Sign up with an in-country service like QQ Mail. Works fine, naturally enough. I have been using it for the past dozen years or so.