How to get a China IP address using a VPN service

Many Chinese websites are geo-locked to China, meaning they aren’t available to anyone trying to access them from another country. However, you CAN get to them if you have an IP address in China. How can you get a Chinese IP address? By connecting to a reliable VPN provider with locations in China. When you connect to a VPN server, you get an IP address from the location where that server is based. This allows you to easily ‘spoof’ your location and appear as if you were browsing directly from China.

Not all VPNs have servers in China, which is why we have put together a list of the most secure VPN services that can give you a Chinese IP address. We also give you top tips to help you get the most out of your new VPN service.

What are the best VPNs to get a Chinese IP?

Below, we have listed the best VPN services that also have servers based in China so you can get a China IP address. If you need more information about any of the services in the list, scroll down to see an in-depth analysis of each service.

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All the services listed above have the following features to ensure they keep you secure and can unblock the Chinese content you’re looking for:

• Chinese IP addresses
• Strong encryption
• Fast servers
• Ability to unblock Chinese websites and streaming services

Best VPN for a China IP

We take a closer look at the services to get a Chinese IP address below. If you still need more information about any of the services below, check out our detailed VPN reviews.

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How to get a China IP with a VPN?

If you choose to purchase one of the services above, the process to get a Chinese IP address is relatively straightforward. All you need to do is follow these steps:

1. Sign up for one of the services listed in this article.
2. Download the provider’s software to your device of choice. This can be found easily on the provider’s website and the setup should be easy.
3. Open your new VPN app and, before you connect to a server, check your settings to ensure that you are using OpenVPN encryption, or IKEV2/IPsec if you are using Mac.
4. Connect to a server based in China.
5. You will now have a Chinese IP address and browse the web as though you are in China.

What VPN features do you need to get a China IP address?

Choosing a VPN for a Chinese IP address requires that you keep a few important considerations in mind. In this guide, we have carefully paid attention to these considerations to ensure that whichever Chinese VPN provider you choose does the job well.

Not every VPN on the market works as advertised, with many being terribly slow or lacking in modern security features and usability. What’s more, many VPNs are neither trustworthy nor reliable, actually compromising your online privacy rather than protecting it in an attempt to harvest your details.

There are hundreds of VPN providers out there, many of whose services have outdated encryption and privacy policies that make them incredibly risky to use. Some only exist to gather customer data to sell on to third parties, which defeats the purpose of using a VPN in the first place!

In order for a VPN to be fit for use in obtaining a Chinese IP address, it must have the following features:

• Must be able to access content and websites that are only available in China. This includes being able to unblock Youku along with other Chinese streaming services, social media sites, etc.
• Must provide fast servers so you can stream content. A fast Chinese server will allow you to stream content in HD.
• Have multiple locations based in China. The Chinese government actively blocks VPN providers, so having multiple locations to choose from means the VPN is more likely to remain usable long-term.
• Offers users’ strong encryption. We always recommend that users use OpenVPN encryption, as this is the strongest VPN encryption method. 
• The provider should keep no logs of user activity. A no-logs VPN will vastly improve your online privacy.

What can I do with a Chinese IP?

With a VPN subscription, internet freedom becomes the norm. Subscribers can privately and securely access content anywhere that their VPN has servers. If you want to use Chinese websites that are blocked outside the country, you will need a Chinese IP address. All the VPN services that we have recommended in this guide provide this service.

Our recommended providers have servers located all over the world. This means that you can use your VPN subscription to connect to websites in many other countries as well. Privacy is always important, so you should use a VPN to encrypt your data any time you are online. You can also access excellent geo-restricted content from all over the world. If internet freedom is what you’re looking for, a VPN is the answer.

China blocks VPNs

China continues to actively crack down on VPNs, and domestic VPNs within China have been the worst affected. Even some international VPNs that had servers based in China have had to withdraw from the country in the face of threats of legal action.

This is a fluid and ongoing battle that is unlikely to have a decisive winner any time soon. As you can see from this article, though, the good news is that there are still some VPNs that allow you to get an IP address in China. However, because of the ongoing political climate, it is always worth clicking through to the VPN’s site to make sure they still have servers in China.

The VPNs on this list all have great support teams that will get back to you quickly, and at least then you will have a definitive answer about getting a Chinese IP address.

Do all VPNs have an IP address in China?

Unfortunately, the Chinese government restricts the use of consumer VPNs. The authorities understand that VPNs are a useful tool for bypassing online blocks imposed by the government. For this reason, the government blocks the websites of leading VPNs, as well as the VPN servers. This prevents people from using those VPNs to bypass the Great Firewall of China.

For VPNs to be allowed in China, those services must gain a government license. Unfortunately, registering your VPN with the Chinese government opens the VPN provider up to the possibility that they may be asked to provide data about their users. 

Providing usage data or other information to the Chinese government would put the VPn provider in violation of its own no-logging policy. For this reason, most market-leading VPNs opt not to gain a government license.

As a result of this, those VPNs usually choose not to maintain a server in China. This means that many reliable and trustworthy VPNs do not let you get an IP address in China.

A few VPNs have found a way to provide an IP address in China using DNS routing tricks. This allows them to provide an IP address in China via a server in a different country. This is a good workaround because it means that the server is not vulnerable to being raided by Chinese authorities.

For legal reasons, some VPNS find it easier simply not to provide access to any server locations in China, to ensure that they are not pressured to gain a license and are not potentially vulnerable to being raided or being subjected to data requests at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

Conclusion

In this guide, we have shown how anybody can easily obtain a Chinese IP address. Each VPN will unblock Chinese websites without issue. In addition, they all offer a money-back guarantee, so you can test the VPN risk-free to be confident it works and fits your needs. All the VPNs that we have recommended are trusted services that provide some of the fastest connection speeds on the market.

Watertight privacy policies were high on our list of requirements, and these VPNs run a tight ship, providing excellent privacy for their users. In addition, the encryption they use and the VPN protocols they offer are up to date, so you can be confident of staying secure when browsing Chinese websites.

Everything has been carefully considered by the team here at ProPrivacy.com, so you can select a VPN for China with confidence. HMA remains the best option for getting a Chinese IP address, but the other four recommendations will do the job every bit as well:

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How to get a China IP address – FAQs

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Can I use a free VPN to get a Chinese IP address?” answer=”Although there are hundreds of VPNs on the market, only a few of them offer Chinese IP addresses, and even fewer of those are free – and basically, none of the free VPN options with China servers are safe.

For example, <a href=’/vpn/review/hotspotshield’>Hotspot Shield</a> does offer a free plan that’s safe to use, but that free plan doesn’t include servers in China. Besides, it comes with many other limitations (slower speeds, fewer features, limited bandwidth), so we can’t actually recommend it for accessing local Chinese content. Hotspot Shield’s premium account, on the other hand, offers a much more all-around service and provides Chinese IPs, and is, therefore, on our recommended VPNs list.” /]]

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Can I use a proxy instead of a VPN to get an IP address in China?” answer=”Using a proxy instead of a VPN in countries with strict online censorship, such as China, is not a good idea because it won’t provide you with the necessary levels of privacy and security. A proxy can change your IP address to a Chinese one, but it won’t encrypt your online traffic, and it will leave you exposed to the prying eyes of your ISP, Chinese government, and other snoopers. Besides, you can never know for sure who’s in charge of a proxy that you’re using and that they won’t abuse your data themselves.

Using a reliable VPN is therefore a must in China! Proxy services simply won’t deal with the challenging China situation.” /]]