How to Access Pinterest in China 2018

I would like to know if Pinterest is blocked in China. If it is blocked, I need suggestion to unblock it. I share recipes on Pinterest every day and have lots of fans. I decide to move to China because I would like to learn how to cook Chinese food and share delicious food with my loved fans. How can I access Pinterest safely there? Will I violate the law if I use Pinterest in this country? Please answer soon. It is really important for me. Thanks.

Can’t Access Pinterest in China?

Can you access Pinterest in China? Do you get error when trying to load Pinterest websites? If you live in or ever had been in China, you may notice that Pinterest can’t be used normally in China. Both of its websites and applications have been censored. Pinterest is a popular scrapbooking service. A large number of users share and look for picture guides concerning cooking, art, wedding, and more practical content on Pinterest. They find visual guides are pretty useful and convenient. Many users are committed to creating and sharing useful picture collection with different theme. They earn fans and generate revenue by advertising. Ordinary users can learn something new or gain inspiration by viewing others’ amazing lives. It is commonly recognized as a useful platform.

However, Pinterest has been added in the list of social media websites blocked by China. You can’t access this service with the local server. The local ISPs also prevent you from using it if they know what you do on the Internet. The national firewall keeps its citizen from accessing certain part of the Internet and blocks contents considered as “harmful.” When you try to access Pinterest in mainland China, a page with “This site can’t be reached” or “Your connection is reset” error will appear on your screen. No matter how many times you refresh the page, you can’t load Pinterest website. Once the firewall detects your IP address which reveals your location in mainland China, it disconnects you every time you try to access blocked websites. To access Pinterest in China, you need to mask your real location and stop the firewall from monitoring your activities.

Why was Pinterest Blocked?

Pinterest was first blocked during the Two Sessions period. Later, it has been confirmed that Pinterest has been permanently blocked in this country. It is simply a normal social media platform where people can share and view pictures. How come it has been blocked by the government? There is no official reason given by Pinterest or the government. Users believe that it has been censored for the same reason why Facebook, Twitter and other famous social media platforms were banned. People used Facebook to communicate with each other to create riots, trying to get rid of the government’s control. The Tiananmen Square incident, Xinjiang riot and Hong Kong protest are the best example. The riots and protest became violence after the uncontrolled statements intensified the trouble. The government learnt a lesson from a disintegration of a developing country and realized the unpredicted power of media platforms. Therefore, they decided to control the content their people can see. Firewall has been built to filter content. Most local companies and agencies help the government monitor online traffic and ensure sensitive information can’t be found on their websites. China has blocked most western social media platforms to control what gets shared online. Though Pinterest didn’t bring any harm to the Chinese government, they still block it prevent potential conflict brought by the Internet. Others believe that they block Pinterest to promote similar local services. Since Pinterest is not available, Chinese users have to use the local services and the local services have a good market place with competing with foreign services. No matter what the reason is, it is a truly fact that this service is banned in this country. You need to overcome the restriction to unblock Pinterest in China.

Strict Internet Censorship in China

China is famous for its strict policies and regulations on Internet censorship. The Chinese government claims that they build the censorship system to curb illegal Internet practices and strengthen online information security. They have tight control on what their people can and can’t view, discuss and share on social media. The authority explains that they monitor users’ activities mainly to prevent circulation of pornographic, violent, gaming and abusive content etc. In fact, they pay close attention to Internet traffic for rebellious material and use advanced tool to filter content online. In additional, they block an uncontrollable outside source of news and information. Pinterest is a service of this kind of source like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp etc. The government can’t monitor those services and don’t know what their citizens do on those platforms. They ban those platforms to reduce the chance of people plotting to turn against the government or organize terrorist attacks. However, blocking those famous social media platforms makes foreigners’ life inconvenient in mainland China.

In fact, China is not the only country which has a firewall system. Russia set up its censorship system with China’s help. Turkey and Iran also have strict Internet censorship. Even the US and UK build firewall to block certain websites. You may not notice it because the number of blocked websites is relatively small compared to the one of China. Firewall has been an important tool for governments to ensure their network security. As we know, Pinterest is not a harmful service, but it is blocked as it is out of the Chinese government control. Luckily, you can bypass the firewall and access Pinterest in China normally with extra tool.

How does Firewall Block Pinterest?

It denies your connection if it contains sensitive keywords included in URL filtering database. Pinterest, YouTube, Google and other blocked domains are added in the database. The firewall is IP based and works like mass regional blocks. It knows your location by detecting your IP address. Once your China-based IP address is detected, your connection will be censored. When your device contacts the DNS server and requests for the IP address before letting you access a website, the great firewall corrupts the DNS responses and returns fake address to make the website inaccessible. As a result, you only get error pages. The government also hires lots of civilian workers to enforce censorship. They collect new domains and key words to the database. This is why more and more websites are blocked. They also upgrade the firewall constantly. To circumvent the firewall and access Pinterest in China, you need to spoof your location and disguise your online activities.

Best Way to Access Pinterest in China?

The Great Firewall of China is commonly recognized as the most advanced and complicated one on the earth. Many users choose Tor Browser or proxy sites to bypass Internet restriction. However, you should know that the firewall in China is much more powerful than you can image. Connection via Tor Browser is slow and comes with limits. Most proxy sites are not powerful enough to help you escape from the censorship. Even they can help you access blocked content in the beginning, the can be blocked by the firewall soon. To use Pinterest in China, you need a reliable, stable and secure tool. So far, VPN is the most effective tool to defeat firewall. Originally, VPN is created to allow employees and executives to work remotely in a safe manner. Nowadays, it has been used as a powerful tool for online security and bypassing regional blocks and firewalls. On one hand, it hides your IP address and connects you to server in a location which supports Pinterest. VPN providers offer a large collection of server locations for you choose. There is no extra charge for server switching. The servers are distributed in different cities, countries and continents. The more options you get, the more chances you to mask your location. When you are connected to server in another country, your IP address will change automatically. Your Internet request will be channeled through remote server and you don’t have to rely on the local server which does not allow you to access blocked content like Pinterest. If you choose server in the US, the firewall only detects your location in the US. It won’t censor a US user’s Internet connections.

On the other hand, VPN uses encryption technology to disguise all of your Internet usage. It creates an encrypted tunnel between your device and VPN server. Advanced VPNs utilize military-grade encryption to secure all your connections to the Internet. They combine the latest encryption technology with advanced VPN protocols and tunnels to give you unbreakable protection and avoid VPN blocks. The ISP, firewall and government only see encrypted data. They won’t know you are visiting Pinterest website, let alone block your connection. You will be able to use Pinterest normally like how you do in your own country.

What’s the Best VPNs to Unblock Pinterest in China?

When searching for a VPN, you can find plenty of options on the market. They all are VPNs, but they may have different features and functions. To get the best VPN, you need to consider connection speed, connection stability, connection security, number of provided servers, privacy policy, the level of customer service and price. When your data goes through remote, it slows down your connection. A fast VPN which slightly affects your connection should be your choice. You don’t have to wait for a long time to upload or download a picture on Pinterest. A large collection of worldwide servers with high uptime is required. That gives you more options to get the best connection. It would be great if the provider offers servers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan because they are close to mainland China and give you faster connection. The stable server and high uptime will ensure you always can work with Pinterest normally and VPN connection rarely drop. You even can load HD videos smoothly.

VPN provider’ privacy policy also is important. Some providers collect users’ privacy to help government censor the Internet. Hence, you should pick a VPN with zero traffic log policy. With strict privacy policy, Internet freedom will be guaranteed and you can use Pinterest without any problem. The customer support is important because the government updates the firewall now and then. The VPN you use may run into problem or connection drops unexpectedly. In this case, you need tech support to fix the issue in time. Most VPN providers offer 24/7 online chat support. No matter which time zone you are located in, you can instant support anytime. Price is another thing you need to consider. There are expensive, cheap and even free VPNs out there. As there is free option, is it necessary to pay money to unblock Pinterest in China? The answer is yes. On one hand, free VPNs are not equipped with needed features to fight against the firewall. Some of them work for few days and get blocked soon. On the other hand, some free VPNs are not reliable because they make money by collecting and selling users’ privacy. It is not worth to risk your privacy. When selecting a VPN, pick the one with features you needed at reasonable price. Taking all of these in consideration, you will pick the best VPN. The firewall gets more and more power. Luckily, there are always new technologies to help you overcome it to access Pinterest successfully in mainland China.

Detail of Best VPNs

ExpressVPN:

ExpressVPN is one of the most trusted, secure brands in the virtual private network industry, and that’s for good reason. It has has Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows applications. It’s superfast and extremely safe, boasting an SSL-secured network with 256-bit encryption and, get this, unlimited bandwidth and speed. All its plans are fully refundable and covered by 30 days money-back guarantee. No questions asked.

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PureVPN:

PureVPN is a one-stop solution for online security, anonymity and privacy that guarantees the fastest VPN speed and highest level of security worldwide by providing you with 750+ servers in 140+ countries across the globe. You can enjoy complete web freedom with the industry leading encrypted e-privacy and e-security.

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NordVPN:

NordVPN has a strict zero log policy and uses two security protocols: OpenVPN with 2048-bit SSL encryption and the 3072-bit IKEv2/IPsec that is currently the most secure protocol available in the market. Additional security features, such as DNS leak protection and double data encryption, are also available. Its IP addresses and wide VPN servers enable you to avoid government censorship and geo-restriction. What’s more, the NordVPN service is based in Panama, which has no data retention laws, meaning that none of your data is recorded, stored or passed to anyone.

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Is It Safe to Use VPN in China?

Users may concern if it is safe to use VPN in China. On one hand, leading VPNs use military-grade encryption to secure your connection to the Internet. On the other hand, there is no law to rule that using VPN is illegal in China. So far, it is almost impossible to crack AES 256-bit encryption which is used by VPN provider to protect your traffic. The firewall can’t crack your connection to view and censor your online activities. The Chinese government does block Pinterest and VPN, but there is no rule to claim that using them is illegal. There are a huge number of foreigners in mainland China. The Chinese government, universities, enterprises and more parties also need to communicate with foreign countries via those blocked websites. They won’t completely block those services. As long as you don’t use VPN or blocked platforms to perform illegal things to harm the country, it is safe to use VPN, Pinterest and other blocked websites in mainland China.

Other Benefits of Using a VPN

A VPN not only helps you unblock Pinterest in China, but also makes your browsing experience amazing. VPN surely can help you overcome geo-restriction and gain access to Google, YouTube, WhatsApp and Pinterest easily. It also assists you to access Netflix after you move to China. Many users pick VPN to reclaim their privacy. VPN hides your IP address and encrypts your online session. Others can’t track you or spy on you. You can be anonymous on the Internet. Even the government can’t invade your privacy. VPN safeguards your connection against the cyber criminals. As your connection is encrypted, the hackers can’t intercept your session or steal your confidential information even when you are connected to public network at airport or coffee house. You can escape from ISP throttling and get unlimited bandwidth. That is great for users who would like to stream HD content, play video games and download via P2P. Only when you use VPN yourself can you know how useful a VPN is. Grab a VPN to access Pinterest in China now.

Best VPNs for China or Other Prohibited Countries

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Conclusion

Do you know how to access Pinterest in China? There is no sign that China will unblock Pinterest. Internet restrictions in China are considered more extensive and advanced than in any other country on the globe. If you are about to travel or move to China, you need to prepare for it. Remember to pick the right VPN for China. Not all VPNs are able to bypass the Great Firewall of China. Some of them can help you access blocked content while their websites are blocked by the firewall. Websites of advanced VPNs like ExpressVPN can be accessed directly. To ensure everything will go smoothly, we suggest you purchase and install a VPN before you start your trip. With a VPN, your IP address will be hidden and your online traffic will be redirected through a trusted access point. VPN is the most secure and effective way to unblock Pinterest in China. Take a VPN to get Internet freedom in China now.

Submitted by Josh M. Grove October 13, 2018