Hello, I am Sally from US. I am going to be sent to China to have a meeting with the business partner of my company. I will stay there for about 2 months. But I heard that Instagram is blocked in China. It is said the block is the result of the Pro-democracy test in Hong Kong several years ago. Anyway, I want to use the Instagram in China. In US, I use the service a lot to keep in touch with my friends, families, colleagues and acquaintances. It gives a lot of fun. For me, it is not only a social networking service, but also part of life. I have no idea how my stay in China for about 2 months will be without the service. What is more, I will go for some sightseeing when I stay there. I want to share interesting pictures with my friends and families. Really, it is very important for me to use the Instagram. Is there any way to unblock the service? How? How Can i find the best ways to use Instagram from China? Please help me, I will set off in two days. Thanks a lot!
What is Instagram? This is not even a question for many people in many nations especially in USA, because it is a widely known mobile application that allows users to share photos and videos in a public or private way. What is more, the users can share the content through such famous social networking media as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and so on. There are many people are using Instagram as the way to stay in touch with their friends, families, classmates, schoolmates, relatives and so on. It is reported that the monthly active users of Instagram reached more than 150 million by September 9, 2013. Among the users of the service, there are many celebrities. They use Instagram as an important way to interact with their fans by sharing photos and videos. For many people, Instagram is not only a social networking service, but more also part of their life. It is hard to imagine how upsetting life would be without accessing the service. So, in this article, we are recommending an effective and efficient way to access Instagram in China and other nations where the service is blocked with reliability.
It’s reported that, in order to protect China’s “the online world sovereignty”, Chinese government produces and runs its filtering system called the Terrific Firewall program (GFW) to censor its Web. This advanced net censorship system both restricts the locations people can browse the web and what they can look for and talk about. All contents and interaction that prompts or possibly prompts a violence or trigger a revolt against the Chinese government will be obstructed as well as people included with the concern will be penalized by law authorities. The GFW system seriously limits access to specific sites, obstructs the Tor privacy network and all public relays, avoids news and social-media sites. Chinese people or people taking a trip to China will not be able to access Instagram in a typical way.
There are many sayings trying to explain the reason why the Chinese government blocked Instagram. And many of them relate the issue with the Pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong. It is said, on September 19, 2014, the Chinese government decided to block Instagram because of a few users distributing unfriendly protest photos on the service, which disclose the reality of Hong Kong. As a matter of fact, Instagram is not the only foreign social networking media be banned by the Chinese government. Such well-known platforms as Google, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook have become prey to the social media censorship of China. And in a government transcript released in the fall of 2014, Lu Wei, director of China’s State Internet Information Office, said that “foreign Internet companies entering China must at the base level accord to Chinese laws and regulations. First, you can’t damage the national interests of the country. Second is you cannot hurt the benefits of Chinese consumers. If China’s laws and regulations are respected, we welcome all of the world’s Internet companies to enter the Chinese market.” Therefore, it is concluded that the Pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong is just a direct cause of the block of Instagram. No matter how famous and popular the service is, where it is located, domestic or foreign, it will be blocked as long as it is regarded as a service out of control of the government. Instagram, Google, Youtube, Twitter and many other services are platforms running on servers located in a foreign country. It is hard for the government to take control of data stored on these servers. This will impose potential threats on the existing government.
To explain how Instagram and other foreign social networking media is blocked by the Chinese government, it is needed to gain some knowledge of the Great Firewall of China. The Great Firewall of China is abbreviated to GFW. It is a legislative and technological instrument being used by the government of Mainland China to achieve Internet censorship in China. It can work to block users in China from accessing selected services and filtering sensitive key words out of searches initiated from devices located in Mainland China. So, if users in China can manage to bypass the GFW, they will be able to unblock and access Instagram, Youtube, Google and many other services.
While, even though the Chinese government has blocked Instagram in a strict method, some users are still accessing the service as if it has never been blocked. What are the best ways to use Instagram from China? Yes, the technology they are using is VPN, which is Virtual Private Network in short. By using a VPN service, the user will be giving a new IP to replace its original one. In this way, the users will be able to circumvent the GFW and visit Instagram and other blocked online services at will. Furthermore, with the VPN
The guide consists of three steps.
Step 1: First, it is needed to go to sign up for an account from a VPN service provider. Usually there are various service plan available, pick up the one that you think it best for you. After that, you will be provided the options to make the payment. Choose the payment method and fill in all the information to complete. An email will be sent to you to confirm the account upon payment being completed. After confirming, the next step is to download and install the software onto your system.
Step 2: Download and install the VPN software. Usually, a link to download the software will be provided in the confirmation email. You may be presented with a list of software where software for different operating systems or devices are listed. Select the one for your systems to finish downloading. The installation is easy, just click through the procedures as prompted all the way to complete.
Step 3: Connect to a US-based server or other proper server location on VPN. When the software is ready, the left you need to do is to start the application and choose a proper location. You can select any server located in US. If you like, you can also choose other locations like Canada. It is all up to you. Now everything is done. You can access website fully in China with your own Instagram account. If you don’t have an account, just go ahead to register a new one.
Instagram is a very famous social networking platform in the world. You can access this service freely in many countries such as USA, Canada etc. While, when you travel to China, you will find this service is no longer available to visit. You may see an error page stating “This website is not reached” or something like connection time out. The GFW is the instrument used by the government of the Mainland China to block the service. While, the VPN technology has been proved to be the best ways to use Instagram from China. It is an effective and efficient method to bypass the GFW and regain the freedom of accessing Instagram and many other services like Google, Twitter, Youtube etc. to stay in touch with your friends, families, relatives, classmates and schoolmates anywhere and anytime. Here in this article, the detailed guides have been provided. It is believed both common users and experts will be able to easily access Instagram in China again by following these guides.
Kindly Reminder: If you have any question regarding how to Set up VPN on your device or don’t know what are the best ways to use Instagram from China, please live chat with Yoocare online expert for help.
Published by & last updated on April 27, 2017 3:54 am
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