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Is WordPress blocked in China?
Yes, WordPress, as in WordPress.com, the hosting arm of WordPress, which is owned by the company Automattic, is blocked in China. But that’s not all.
Although there have been some recent reports that some WordPress.com hosted sites have been visible behind the great firewall of China. None of these reports have been officially confirmed.
But the good news is, WordPress.org, which is where most of us download our free and paid versions of WordPress plugins from, is not blocked in China.
As far as the WordPress CMS that powers about 40% of all websites on the internet today, that too isn’t blocked as well.
Can you use WordPress in China?
Technically yes, you can use WordPress in China as far as the WordPress CMS goes.
However, if you are interested in downloading a WordPress theme in China, you’ll need to make sure that the developer of that theme or the site where that theme is hosted on is not blocked in China.
Because if it is, you will not be able to download that theme to use. Also, if you are going to operate a WordPress website from China, you need to make sure that your hosting provider’s IPs are not blocked in China.
This can become even riskier if your website is hosted on a Shared hosting plan. This is due to how the Chinese firewall works as it blocks individual IP addresses, not just individual websites.
Since on Shared hosting plans many websites typically share one IP address, if one of those websites is blocked in China, then all the websites operating with that same IP address are also blocked.
How do I know if my WordPress website is blocked in China?
If you are operating your WordPress website from China, it is easy to see if your WordPress website is blocked in China by simply trying to access it by putting its URL in your browser.
If you cannot access it in a normal way like that, then it is probably blocked in China.
If you want to know if you’re WordPress website is blocked in China, but you are not in China to physically check the URL, then you can test your websites visibility as well as speed in China by going to the Chinafy website here: Chinafy.com
Just enter your URL in the correct box and this should help you see if your website is being blocked in China.
Also, even if your website isn’t blocked in China, it still may load incredibly slow.
You see another problem Western websites have when accessing China and the Chinese market is the speed at which their websites load in Chinese browsers in China.
Many otherwise optimized and fast Western URLs, load extremely slow in China. So you can check your website’s Chinese load speed through Chinafy.com as well.
By the way, many also claim that their websites are accessible in some cities of China but not in others. This is also a common problem Western websites have when trying to access China.
Why is my WordPress website being blocked in China?
Your WordPress website might be blocked in China because of one or more of the following reasons:
No unit or individual may use the Internet to create, replicate, retrieve, or transmit the following kinds of information:
- Inciting to resist or obstruct the implementation of the Constitution, legislation or administrative regulations;
- Inciting to overthrow the government or the socialist system;
- Inciting division of the country, harming national unification;
- Inciting hatred or discrimination among ethnic groups or harming the unity of ethnic groups;
- Fabricating or distorting the truth, spreading rumors, destroying the order of society;
- Promoting feudal superstitions, obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, murder, terrorism or encouraging criminal activity;
- Publicly insulting or distorting the truth to slander other people;
- Defaming state organizations;
- Other activities against the Constitution, legislation and administrative regulations.
Source: Guan, S. (1995). Intercultural communication (in Chinese). Beijing: Beijing University Press.
Those are just some of the official reasons and they date back to 1995! The Chinese government is constantly updating their internet censorship policies.
Here are a few more reasons why your site may be blocked:
If you use third party apps of banned internet companies like Google, for example even embedding Google Maps etc. Facebook, including Facebook feeds, Instagram, Twitter is also blocked in China as well as YouTube, etc. You get the picture.
These are just a few reasons, but they are the most common. for a comprehensive look of possible reasons why your WordPress website is being blocked in China check out this article: Blocking, Filtering, and Monitoring.
For an overall assessment of internet access and censorship in China, visit this website: cecc.gov
If you’re more interested in the topic you can read, “Breaching the Great Firewall of China: Congress Overreaches in Attacking Chinese Internet Censorship” By Miriam D. D ‘Jaent.
How can I prevent my WordPress from being blocked in China?
Obviously, you can try to prevent your WordPress website from being blocked in China by eliminating all of the reasons why websites get blocked in China that I had gone through above. However, you could do one of the following options.
- You can take the drastic step of having your website hosted in China and this would take care of two things at once.
It would practically guarantee access in China if you’re being hosted by a Chinese hosting provider, and you will have a much better chance of having your website load much faster if it were hosted in China than from outside of China.
- If you don’t want to take that drastic of a step, you can create a brand new website, basically a Chinese clone of your Western website and have it hosted in China by a Chinese hosting provider.
However, you still must follow their internet censorship guidelines as the Chinese authorities are quite rigorous in regulating their internal internet market.
WordPress blocked in China, conclusions.
As you can see operating a WordPress website in China without being blocked can be quite a Byzantine process.
However, if you are really eager to establish an online presence in China, there are ways to do this.
You can even have a WordPress CMS theme and website in China without it being blocked, if you follow all the rules.
