It is true that web surfing in Chuugoku can be a difficulty. In particular, there are certain services that cannot be accessed without a proxy or a VPN. Examples that I find particularly intrusive include Blogger, Wordpress, and YouTube. LinkedIn isn't blocked and is freely open to users.
Most of the Linux sites I visit are still accessible though resources hosted on blog servers are blocked. Most helpful Linux forums suffer restrictions as well. I don't use Facebook or Twitter but I'm pretty sure that many will find it difficult to access them (if not impossible). Some local Shanghainese friends tell me they've attempted to access Facebook and even Google+ though neither services are very popular and functionality is intermittent.
I was told that BBC was blocked due to disparaging articles regarding the government in recent years but this is clearly not true as BBC remains accessible. Although Blogger still remains blocked, Gmail worked - a pleasant surprise for me since my experience during my tenure in Ho Chih Minh, Vietnam was the opposite. Hotmail users will be happy to know that the recent speed bump in the venerable e-mail service actually works within the Fragrant Kingdom.
During lunch with a few expatriates, there was talk about online pornography. Wikipedia actually notes that a majority of the biggest porn sites were blocked. I was sure that restrictions in China would block pornography first after reading so many articles about censorship, but they laughingly told me porn sites were the first sites they confirmed as functional. One even joked that the country needs them the most thus the consideration for the "genre."
Linux fans like myself will be happy to know none of the Linux distribution web sites (fedoraproject.org, opensuse.org, etc.) are blocked (though I didn't exactly go through all the links in Distrowatch.com).
That said, here's a sampler of technical web sites not blocked in the Middle Kingdom:
- Pcworld.com
- Cnet.com
- Pcmag.com
- Arstechnica.com
- Wired.com
- Microsoft.com
- Apple.com
- Lifehacker.com
- Engadget.com
- Cnetasia.com
- Gizmodo.com
- Makeuseof.com
- Www3 schools
- Downloads.com
- howtoforge.com
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