If you bought a new ultraportable or laptop while traveling or visiting China and decided to switch over to Linux and install Skype while you were still in the country, you're going to find yourself on the Skype China Official Site web page if you attempt to visit Skype.com to download the latest version of Skype for Linux. There is an English link to make the page comprehensible but Skype is tightly controlled by Chinese regulators. This prevents you from accessing most of the Skype web pages including the link to Skype for Linux. Regardless if you clicked the hyperlink from Microsoft.com or third-party websites like Download.com to download Skype, you end up in the same Skype Chinese web page.
Thankfully, the same approach that allows users to access a few blocked sites in China also allows you to download the latest version of Skype for Ubuntu, Debian, and openSUSE. This is using a translations service such as Google Translate or Bing Translator.
To download Skype for Linux in China:
1. Visit the Linux Skype blog site.
2. Scroll to the link Download Linux for Skype 4.1. Do not click on the link or you'll open the Chinese Skype web site.
3. Right-click and copy the link address for Skype for Linux. Open Google Translate and paste the link in the text box. Select a target language other than English, such as Spanish or French. Click Translate. And then click the new link provided by Google Translate.
4. The translated page will have a download link for Skype for Linux 4.1.
5. Select the .rpm or .deb file for your Linux distribution.
Users of Ubuntu can actually install Skype from Ubuntu Software Center. However, I've had issues with that version in recent versions of Ubuntu Unity and Lubuntu. Windows users won't have any problems with the Skype version provided by the Chinese site though if they prefer they can still download from the U.S. site using the same steps provided.
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