Great Firewall of China and Google Cloud Platform
The Chinese government established the Great Firewall of China (GFW) in 1998 to block and regulate several aspects of the Internet. According to Wikipedia, about 10,000 websites were prohibited in mainland China as of September 2018. Google.com, Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are just a few of the prominent sites and services that many of us use on a regular basis.
Today, we’ll take a look at what this means for WordPress sites hosted on Google Cloud Platform.
Great Firewall of China and Google Cloud Platform
Check Your Website Behind China’s Great Firewall
Recommendations for China-focused websites
China’s Great Firewall and Google Cloud Platform
You’re undoubtedly wondering how the Google Cloud Platform is affected if you’re reading this. Kinsta uses the Google Cloud Platform, therefore your WordPress sites should be accessible from China if you host them with us. In reality, we now have a large number of clients who are successfully targeting China.
We can’t guarantee accessibility, though, because we have no influence over anything the Chinese government decides to prohibit. Google Support’s Navi has also stated:
There are no restrictions on traffic from China on Google Cloud Platform. If you run a website on the Google Cloud Platform, traffic from China visitors will not be banned.
Google, on the other hand, has no influence over the GFW blocking mechanisms.
The same can be said for our KeyCDN-powered Kinsta CDN. While there haven’t been any reported problems, we have no control over what China may prohibit.
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Check Your Website Behind the Great Firewall of China
You may test a website in real-time with a free tool like WebSitePulse, vpnMentor, Comparitech, or ViewDNS.info to see if it’s accessible from China (behind the Great Firewall of China). It’s important to keep in mind that accessibility varies by location. You can test your site using these tools from the following locations:
Shanghai is a Chinese city.
Beijing is the capital of China.
Guangzhou is a Chinese city.
Shenzhen, Inner Mongolia, China China
Yunnan Province, China Heilongjiang Province, China
Simply go to your website and verify the status. If your website is available, it should display “OK.” Kinsta.com (hosted on Google Cloud Platform) is accessible behind China’s Great Firewall, as shown here.
Check out the website behind China’s Great Firewall.
Recommendations for Sites Targeting China
Kinsta has 29 distinct data centers from which to choose. While there isn’t a data center in China, Taiwan or Hong Kong are viable options. You may also use GCP Ping to find the data center with the lowest latency based on your current physical location.
Another option if you’re having problems is to put your WordPress site behind Cloudflare. Because this is a reverse proxy, your site will be assigned a different IP address, which may give it a greater chance of passing. For Cloudflare Enterprise customers in China, they also have extra alternatives.
Save time, money, and improve site performance by using:
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Integration with Cloudflare Enterprise.
With 29 data centers across the world, we can reach a global audience.
With our built-in Application Performance Monitoring, you can improve your performance.
All of this and more is included in a single plan that includes no long-term obligations, aided migrations, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check out our plans or speak with a sales representative to find the ideal plan for you.