China VPN Connectivity Matrix
How each protocol holds up across Chinese ISPs, as our assessment rather than measurement — see the published methodology. Conditions change without notice — treat every figure as a snapshot of the date beside it, not a current guarantee.
Regional Alert: Henan Province (AS4837)
We are seeing increased entropy-scanning on China Unicom AS4837 infrastructure in Henan Province. Users in this region see measurably worse results than the national baseline than national averages due to Geedge Networks DPI deployment.
Read our Technical Whitepaper on Henan Firewall Evasion →What Is the ISP Bypass Confidence Matrix?
Protocol performance by ISP and network. Click any row for detailed analysis.
| ISP / Network | Region | VLESS-Reality | Stealth/Proprietary | WireGuard | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China Telecom CN2 GIA (AS4809) | National | Strong
%
WORKING | Strong
%
WORKING | Fails
%
BLOCKED | 120-160ms |
| China Telecom 163 Network | National | Workable
%
WORKING | Workable
%
THROTTLED | Fails
%
BLOCKED | 180-250ms |
| China Unicom AS4837 / CUII | National | Strong
%
WORKING | Strong
%
WORKING | Fails
%
BLOCKED | 140-180ms |
| China Mobile CMNET (International) | National | Workable
%
WORKING | Workable
%
THROTTLED | Fails
%
BLOCKED | 200ms+ |
| Henan Regional Provincial Filter | Henan Province | Workable
%
THROTTLED | Workable
%
THROTTLED | Fails
%
BLOCKED | 250ms+ |
Premium routing. Small Whitelist testing reported Jan 27.
Budget routing. Congested 8-11PM.
Best for streaming. CERNET blocks TLS fragmentation.
Heavy UDP throttling 8-11PM. Port-hopping required.
Enhanced DPI. Geedge Networks infrastructure detected.
What Are the Most Frequently Asked Questions?
What is the best VPN protocol for China in 2026?
VLESS-Reality is the most resilient protocol for China in 2026, with reasonable confidence on China Telecom CN2 GIA and China Unicom AS4837. It uses TLS certificate stealing to masquerade as legitimate HTTPS traffic, evading JA4 fingerprinting and entropy analysis.
How does the Henan regional firewall differ from the national GFW?
The Henan provincial firewall uses enhanced DPI infrastructure from Geedge Networks, which makes circumvention measurably harder there than under the national baseline. Additional packet header analysis and stricter entropy thresholds are employed.
Which Chinese ISP is best for VPN connections?
China Unicom AS4837 offers the best balance of speed and reliability for VPN connections, with strong VLESS-Reality performance and 140-180ms latency. China Telecom CN2 GIA rates slightly stronger but is more expensive and has reported 'Small Whitelist' testing.
Why do NordVPN and ProtonVPN fail in China?
NordVPN (NordLynx/WireGuard) and ProtonVPN fail because they use standard WireGuard signatures with high entropy patterns. The GFW's entropy analysis identifies these within milliseconds. They fail across all three major ISPs.
Where does this come from?
This is our editorial assessment, weighted by the criteria set out in our methodology and drawn from public reporting and vendor protocol documentation. We do not run test infrastructure inside China, and we do not claim to.