In July alone, one popular made-in-China VPN abruptly ceased operations, Apple removed dozens of VPN apps from its China-facing app store, and some international hotels stopped offering VPN services as part of their in-house wifi.
Yet the government was targeting VPN usage well before the latest push. Ever since president Xi Jinping took office in 2012, activating a VPN in China has been a constant headache—speeds are slow, and connectivity frequently lapses. Especially before major political events (like this year’s upcoming party congress in October), it’s not uncommon for connections to drop immediately, or not even form at all.
In response to these difficulties, China’s tech-savvy programmers have been relying on another, lesser-known tool to access the open internet. It’s called Shadowsocks, and it’s an open-source proxy built for the specific purpose of jumping China’s Great Firewall.
