YouTube Blocked in Beijing

2/365 - 2007-10-16
If you can see this photo and you’re in China, Flickr’s available. But so much for my video feed.

Thomas Crampton reports, and a quick check confirms: YouTube videos now unavailable at least from my seat in Beijing. The standard “connection reset” tactic is being used. This comes at the same time as previous blocks on Blogger and Flickr apparently have been lifted. I’ve even been getting intermittent function out of the FeedBurner relays that have been plaguing so many China-oriented bloggers. I even heard that some have gotten through to the BBC.

[UPDATE 12:59 p.m.]: Ken Wong has noticed that Google Blogsearch has also disappeared. He asks: 黑色星期四? (“Black Thursday?”)

[UPDATE II 5:35 p.m.]: Commenters all over the web are looking for a circumvention method. I have my issues with this service, but Hotspot Shield, introduced by “花崗齋雜記 Jottings from the Granite Studio” seems to have the bandwidth to handle YouTube.

[UPDATE III Oct. 31]: YouTube appears to be back.

18 thoughts on “YouTube Blocked in Beijing

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  4. Arnoud

    🙂 Is there any way to circumvent this block though? I ve been trying a few “proxy” sites but even though youtube does appear, the videos do not… saying it s a flash problem or something… anyone?

    Reply
  5. Graham Webster Post author

    I’m getting reasonably good results from Hotspot Shield, which was first introduced to the China blogosphere by the historian over at “花崗齋雜記 Jottings from the Granite Studio.” It’s a pain in the ass for some things, but it seems to provide the bandwidth necessary for YouTube, where others may fail.

    Reply
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  11. Bembino

    I often travel to Beijing and do not have any problems with sit blocking because I use http://strongvpn.com account. As a big plus for Chinese people that it is translated into Chinese language! For its quality I do not have any claims. It is probably the best VPN service in internet.

    Reply
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