What is the Great Firewall of China? How to bypass it?

This is a popular science article about China's Great Firewall (GFW) and its impact. We hope it helps you understand this "invisible wall" more clearly.

## What is the Great Firewall of China?

The **Great Firewall** (abbreviated as **GFW**) is the collective term for the multiple network censorship systems established by the government of the People's Republic of China within its internet jurisdiction. It acts like a digital border, monitoring data traffic between China's internet and the international internet.

### Official Statements

In official discourse, the existence of the GFW is often framed in terms of protecting national security. Common justifications include:

-   **Maintaining Social Stability:** Preventing the spread of "rumors" and inflammatory information.
-   **Cyber Sovereignty:** Emphasizing China's right to manage its domestic internet and prevent foreign interference.
-   **Protecting Youth:** Blocking violent, pornographic, or "unhealthy" cultural content.
-   **Supporting Domestic Industries:** Creating space for domestic companies like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent by blocking giants like Google and Facebook.

## Unveiling the Truth

While the official reasons sound like "protection," the core function of the GFW lies in **stringent information censorship and unidirectional ideological indoctrination**.

### Depriving the Right to Know

The GFW blocks most mainstream international news media (such as the BBC, The New York Times, Wikipedia, etc.). By cutting off these external sources, users are only exposed to information that has been filtered, modified, or even distorted by the government.

### Creating Information Cocoons

When a group can only hear one voice, their thinking gradually converges. The GFW transforms China's internet into a massive **information cocoon**. People are unknowingly deprived of opportunities to compare, question, and think independently, thereby achieving an invisible control over public thought.

### Surveillance and Deterrence

The GFW is not just a "wall," but also an "eye." It uses technologies like Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to scan traffic in real-time. Once sensitive keywords are detected, the connection is immediately severed. This pervasive censorship creates psychological **self-censorship**, leading people to remain silent out of fear.

## Common "Wall-Climbing" Methods

"Wall-climbing" essentially involves using various encryption and proxy technologies (protocols) to "drill holes" or "build bridges" over the wall, allowing traffic to bypass the firewall's detection.

| **Most Common Protocols** | **Principle Overview**                                                              | **Characteristics**                                                                |
| :------------------------ | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **VPN (Virtual Private Network)** | Establishes an encrypted tunnel, disguising your traffic as ordinary data transmitted to an overseas server. | Simple to use, but commercial VPNs have obvious characteristics and are easily blocked by the firewall. |
| **Shadowsocks / SSR**     | A lightweight encrypted proxy protocol (colloquially known as "Sour Milk").         | High efficiency, was mainstream, but is now more easily identified by DPI.          |
| **V2Ray / Trojan**        | Simulates normal web browsing (HTTPS) traffic, offering extreme stealth.            | **Currently the most advanced** method, effectively combating deep packet inspection. |
| **SSH Tunnel**            | Uses the server's remote login protocol for data forwarding.                        | Suitable for technical users, configuration is relatively complex.                 |

> **Safety Tip:** Wall-climbing is not absolutely safe. Using illegal wall-climbing tools may pose a risk of personal information leakage, and under relevant laws and regulations, accessing the international internet through "unauthorized channels" may carry certain legal risks.

## Conclusion

The existence of the GFW is fundamentally a fear of the freedom of information flow by those in power. In the digital age, access to truthful and diverse information is the foundation for maintaining an independent personality.