Using the internet in China

Recent changes in China mean that as a visitor, you might not enjoy the freedom you have back home when trying to surf the Net or email.

First, many internet cafes require you to have an electronic Chinese ID card. This is swiped and records your details. If you aren't a citizen of the Peope's Repubic of China, you can't get one of these. So you might have to search around for an internet cafe when a staff member or other user helps you around this.

Second, you might not be able to access all the websites you can back home. For example YouTube, Facebook, Piccasa and Titter are among the websites which are blocked in China. The only way around this is to use a proxy server.