Climbing over the Great Fire Wall

Shhh...you didn't hear this from us...

One issue expats find particularly frustrating is their inability to access certain homepages from computers located in China. It's particularly ironic when, say, you have a blog on Blogspot.com -- and you can't even read your own posts!

We want you to know that help is here! Just go to a search engine and enter the terms "anonymization" or "proxy service." You'll find plenty of services with easy-to-follow instructions.

Essentially, you go to the service's homepage and enter the URL of the page you want. Since you can connect to the service's page, and the service can connect to the page you want, you can usually get through. It might take a little longer, and you may have to look at some annoying ads, but it's a small price to pay for (nearly) full access!

Now, as long as they don't start blocking those...

Since different proxies seem to have different "powers," we'll tell you that right now (February 2008) Zend2 seems to be able to access everything, including Flickr. The downside is, if you try to bookmark or send a proxied URL, it won't work. That is, one MUST enter the original URL on the Zend2 page.

The old standby, Anonymouse, on the other hand, can be bookmarked or emailed, but -- while showing the Flickr page -- can't seem to show Flickr pictures.

If you know of a proxy that can do both of these things, let us know in the comments below.

For the record: We know nothing about the legality of proxy use in China. Use this information at your own risk. And remember, you didn't hear this from us.