Advice Request Things to do before going to China

[Gravity3556]

Hi,

Basically I'm going to China for student exchange programme. Is there anything I should do before going there other than a VPN?

I plan to transfer important files on my laptop (Windows 10, on latest update) to OneDrive and once I return to my home country I'll do a SSD secure erase (I've already got plans to wipe my laptop anyway for periodic maintenance along with thermal paste replacement and dust cleaning). The laptop is on hardware BitLocker encryption if that helps.

My phone is a Android One device (Mi A1) on July 2018 patch. Other than installing a VPN (for my own use, I'm not sure YouTube/Google/Play Store will work normally without VPN) and WeChat (requirement by my own university for interactions with students there) there is nothing I plan to do since I don't think I can do much on this area.

On both my laptop and my phone I'll install OpenVPN client using Windscribe (TCP on port 443). I heard that China blocks VPN so I'm not sure this will work so can Windscribe OpenVPN TCP 443 work?

Note that I'll probably use my own data (buy a number there and use hotspot) since I'm not sure on the university policy on VPN connections there.

Is there anything I missed? Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Question]

Short: Yes you're able to use Windscribe in China.

Long Answer:
bandwidth will come through at a trickle, which I suspect is due to WindScribe not having servers that have strong peering with China. I'd love to be proven wrong. Does anyone else living in China have a positive experience to share? Servers to recommend?

Here's a really long answer with more detail:


(Source: Reddit Post)

Be careful. Hackers attack not only computers but also Smartphones
~ DOPSE

 

[frogboy]

From me just stay safe and have a great time while over in China. Bon Voyage .

 

[Aleeyen]

Just don't criticize the govt.