Road
map to the Chinese internet
If you are
in China, you will need to set up VPN
so you can
communicate with the real internet
Chinese Firewall
Regular access through any ISP will find
most of the worlds web sites blocked by the Chinese government. But:
Most people in China get around this by
using Some kind of VPN encrypted tunneling software.
VPN - You will need VPN (Virtual Private
Network) 虚拟专用网络 Xūnǐ zhuānyòng wǎngluò to get through the
VPN - Chinese Firewall 中国防火墙 Zhōngguó fánghuǒqiáng.
VPN - You
can check to see if certain sites are blocked in different parts f China at: Chinese Firewall Test
VPN - I use StrongVPN
- They have always been there 24/7, but there are many other providers
VPN -
翻墙 Fān qiáng (getting over the wall)
VPN -
It is only quasi illegal. Most educated
Chinese have one. It is fairly cheap, I pay about 55 USD a year for a
dependable service.
Online Banking
Bank - Account - You can create in person, a USD account Euro account
or 人民币Rénmínbì RMB account in any
Chinese Bank.
Bank - Account - The bank will issue you a USB flash disk, U盘, USB闪存盘Shǎncún
pán
Bank - Account - You will not need this to login
to your account but you will need it to transfer funds.
Bank - Account - Or you can use a public key certificate instead.
Bank - Many bank interfaces only work with
internet explorer.
Bank - ATM - You can freely exchange RMB USD at
most any bank
Bank - ATM - You can get RMB with your American USD bank card at many
ATMs in China
Bank - ATM - Make sure the ATM has the American card issuer logo on it
(MasterCard, Visa, Etc.)
Bank - ATM - All bank cards in China are issued by UnionPay
Bank - ATM - You can get USD from your RMB account in the US at many
ATMs
Bank - ATM - I think Discover works with UnionPay
(maybe some others)
Bank - Credit Card - You can use your credit card in China
Bank - Chinese - There are many banks in China
Bank - Chinese - For convenience,
you may need to have more than one bank account but ICBC is the biggest
Bank - Chinese - ICBC 中国工商银行 Zhōngguó gōngshāng
yínháng (Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China)
Bank
- Doc1 - Confirmation of real name 实名认证Shímíng rènzhèng: Passport
and Visa
Bank
- Doc1 - Online you
may need a scanned image of Passport and Visa and sometimes picture.
Bank
- Doc2 - Chinese friend with
"residence and nationality personal identity card" 居民身份证Jūmín
shēnfèn zhèng:
Bank
- Doc2 - Some but not all banks require a Chinese
friend with an identity card, China Citic bank
does not require it.
Bank
- Doc2 - Online
you may need a scanned image of the
front and back of this card.
Bank
- Doc3 - Chinese friend with letter of guarantee担保函Dānbǎo hán:
Bank
- Doc3 - To withdraw money from an Alipay account
you will need a Chinese friend to fill out and sign a letter of guarantee.
Bank
- Doc3 - This says he will take responsibility for
you if you fuck up. It is legally unenforceable, so I am told,
Bank - Doc3 - It does not
require any proof of wealth on the part of the Chinese friend.
Bank - Doc3 - Online you will need You will
need a scanned image of this letter of guarantee
Bank
- Doc4 - Keep track of Account holders
name / Bank card number / Chinese Address /
Bank
- Doc4 - ATM access PIN number: usually 6 digits / Online login password:
(different from pin number) /
Bank
- Doc4 - Branch Bank Address 支行地址Zhīháng
dìzhǐ: You
will need to know this
Bank
- Doc5 - Bank contact: information for someone
at the bank so you can call when you have a problem.
Bank
- Doc6 - All your Alipay info
Bank - Online Payments - Alipay支付寶 Chinese equivalent of
PayPal but ten times as much trouble.
Bank - Online Payments - PayPal
Bank - Online Payments - Alibaba 阿里巴巴集团 (parent company of
Alipay and Taobao)
Bank - Western Union wire transfer: is the fastest way
to get money to someone
Bank - International Bank transfer: is quite expensive
ISP Providers - (Internet
Service Provider互联网服务提供商Hùliánwǎng fúwù tígōng shāng)
ISP Providers - In the U.S. Look them up usually by zip code and choose
a provider.
ISP Providers - ISP Providers China (There are three
internet service providers in China)
ISP Hardwire connection - DSL, ADSL, Cable modem (U.S.) (Connection cable -上网线- Shàngwǎng xiàn)
ISP Hardwire connection - Local WiFi
to（Wireless router - 无线路由器 - Wúxiàn lùyóuqì wúxiàn lùyóuqì）hard wire connected to ISP
Mobile Phone 手机 Shǒujī
Mobile Phone - Get a Tri band GSM for voice (So you can communicate
anywhere in the world)
Mobile Phone - (I think a quad band is unnecessary now)
Mobile
Phone - A modern Quad band Mobile phone has
GSM bands (1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850) MHz bands
Mobile Phone - It should be unlocked (to avoid being tied into an American company)
Mobile Phone - With two SIM card slots (multiple countries numbers and carriers)
Mobile Phone - It should be either an iPhone
4 or 4S or an HTC Android
Mobile Phone - You can easily buy SIM cards on the street in China
Mobile Phone - Memory
Mobile SIM - AT&T Mobility SIM Card Best SIM card for the U.S.
Mobile SIM - China
Mobile or China Unicom SIM is best
Mobile SIM - Outgoing
international calls are extremely expensive, Incoming international calls are
free or inexpensive.
Mobile SIM - So get
two SIM cards, two numbers
Mobile Phone - Android / HTC App market - market.android.com
Mobile Phone - Apple iPhone App market
- apple.com/iphone
Mobile Phone - Telecom Providers in China
Mobile Phone - China Mobile 中国移动通信 - voice technology is GSM: Mobile broad band 3G technology for data is TD-SCDMA
Mobile Phone - China Unicom 中国联通 voice technology is GSM: Mobile broad
band 3G technology for data is W-CDMA
Mobile Phone - Telecom Providers in the U.S. Look here to see what voice and data (broad band)
technologies are provided.
Mobile 2G - Is speech
and low speed internet access.
Mobile
2G - GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communications / Groupe Special Mobile) original international standard for voice
Mobile
2G - GSM also has SMS (Short Message
Service 160 characters)
Mobile 2G - GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) a data upgrade to GSM
Mobile
2G - EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Evolution) a data upgrade to GPRS
Mobile 2G - [GSM in advertizing lingo usually means regular GSM / GPRS / EDGE but not Evolved EDGE]
Mobile
2G - The above transmit capability is usually built in to any GSM device.
Mobile
2G - The ability to use all of these aspects and call anywhere in the world and
how much it will cost depends on the SIM contract.
Mobile
2G - International calls on a SIM card are usually very expensive. You should
buy a calling card. Or have them call you, or
use skype.
Mobile 3G - means much faster
internet speed and usually requires an
external broad band modem
which you will connect using WiFi and then using one
of the 3G connection technologies.
an internal 3G connection
with
Mobile
3G data - W-CDMA (Wideband) A Chinese
standard
Mobile
3G data - TD-S CDMA (Time Division Synchronous) A Chinese standard
Mobile
3G data - Public WiFi (meaning provided nationwide
by a telecom provider as opposed to local WiFi) In
China
Mobile 4G - means fast enough for video
Mobile
4G broadband modem - WiMAX
(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) fixed and mobile internet
access. Ultra broadband Clearwire
Mobile 4G broadband modem - LTE ( Long Term Evolution) U.S. Standard. Ultra broadband.
Mobile - (Hot Spot - 热点 - rèdiǎn)
Mobile Broadband modem - 移动宽带上网卡 - Yídòng kuāndài shàngwǎng
kǎ or上网卡)
Mobile Broadband - (Air Card) External data connection for your cell phone
or computer.
Mobile Broadband - Use
direct USB card to device or through a WiFi router
with USB air card
x To be best equipped
for worldwide use, I suggest avoiding the
following technologies.
x Fuck the American
companies who require a two year contract.
x
Mobile 3G data - CDMA2000 (Code Division
Multiple Access) CDMA
turned out to be more efficient than TDMA (Time Division)
x
Mobile 3G data - CDMA2000 - EV-DO (Evolution - Data Optimized / Only)
x
Mobile 3G data - [CDMA in advertizing lingo usually means CDMA / EV-DO Rev. B]
x
Mobile 3G data - UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System)
x Mobile Phone - China Telecom 中国电信 voice PHS: data CDMA2000
x
Mobile 3G data - CDMA2000
> EV-DO Rev. B Also in China
x
Mobile 3G data - HSPA
(High Speed Packet Access) U.S. Standard
x
Mobile 3G data - HSDPA
(High Speed Downlink Packet Access) U.S. Standard
x
Mobile 2G - PCS
is Provided on 1900 Mhz band Sprint Nextel phones are not compatible with
GSM PCS competes with GSM-TDMA
x Mobile 3G data - UMTS-CDMA DS (Direct-Spread)
x
Mobile 3G data - [3G GSM in advertizing lingo usually means UMTS]
Baidu (100 degrees) 百度 -
baidu.com (Search Engine plus)
Hand drawn Chinese input -
Dictionary - (Chinese-English /
English-Chinese) 词典
Social Networking Baidu (空间 Baidu Zone)
Baidu Hao123
- hao123.com (categorization
of all the important Chinese web sites in Chinese)
Blog - bókè 博客
Blog - Word
Press - wordpress.com (English blog platform) need VPN to access it from
China
Blog - Blogger
now Google BlogSpot - blogspot.com (English
blog platform) need VPN to access it from China
Blog - Blog
Sina - blog.sina.com.cn (Chinese blog platform)
Blog - Blog
QQ blog.qq.com (Chinese blog platform)
Books
- Amazon (buy-sell) - amazon.com
Books - Dangdang 当当网 - dangdang.com
Books - Joyo (excellent
Amazon) 卓越亚马逊 amazon.cn
Browser - Liúlǎn qì 浏览器
Browser - Google Chrome - google.com
Browser - Mozilla Firefox - mozilla.org [open source]
Browser - Sohu 搜狐 - sohu.com [made in China]
Browser - Internet Explorer - windows.microsoft.com [owned
by Microsoft]
Browser - Safari - apple.com
Classmates - American - classmates.com
Classmates - Chinese -
tongxue.com
Classmates -
Russian - odnoklassniki.ru
Video Communications - GoToMeeting - gotomeating.com
Video Communications - WebEx [for teaching]
Video Communications - Citrix GoToMyPC -
gotomypc.com [for remote desktop]
Video Communications - skype (Largest in the world)
VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) You can call peoples
telephones.
IM (Instant Messaging) Voice, Video, Chat (Text), Video
Conferencing, screen sharing, sending files
Email - Mailbox 邮箱Yóuxiāng; Message 邮件yóujiàn
All of the social networks
have free email. I recommend:
Email - Gmail
or
Email - QQ mail - mail.qq.com (Chinese interface)
Email
- Mozilla
Thunderbird email aggregator - mozilla.org
Allows you to mannage all your emails form
one place and keep it all on your own computer.
Email
- MozBackup for backing up your email aggregator.
Encyclopedia
-
Encyclopedia
- Wikipedia (Best in English)
Encyclopedia
- Wikipedia
(Best in Chinese)
Encyclopedia
- Baidu baike 百度百科
Encyclopedia
- Hudong
(Mutual Action) 互动 百科
Academic
Research - CNKI 中國知網 (costs money)
Encyclopedia
- About (high
school level)
Encyclopedia
- Ask (simple)
Sharing music and
movie files online (Torrent sites)
Storing files online
Cloud Storage - Top 10 Cloud Storage
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - I recommend FireFTP for FireFox, It can transfer files with Chinese file names
Forums - Are more sophisticated than groups, have search
capability with multiple conversations.
Groups - All the social networks have discussion groups (no
recommendations - hit or miss)
Lots of games on the internet
(here are some free games)
Google 谷歌 (Search Engine plus)
Google Maps - look all over the world
Calendar - organize your
schedule
Google Docs - create Documents,
Spread Sheets, Presentations, Drawings, Forms - online
Google Earth - Sky, Mars, Moon
-
Google Translate (Translates to and from many languages)
Jobs - Chinese
Lionbridge
Jobs - Monster
Jobs - Indeed
Jobs - CareerBuilder
Jobs - Lionbridge
Jobs - Asian academic - asiannetwork
Jobs - Dice
Jobs - Asian
Jobs - visiting scholar
Jobs - in China
- chinasplash
Instant Messenger Jíshí xìnshǐ 即时信使 - started with real
time text chat but now includes video and audio and cut and paste clip boards.
Microblog: 微博 wēi bó , Text message: 短信 duǎnxìn based blogging
Microblog - Twitter -
twitter.com (Blocked in China
without VPN)
Microblog - Sina Weibo U.S. -
us.weibo.com (Chinese Twitter in US)
Microblog - Sina Weibo - weibo.com (Chinese
Twitter in China)
Microblog - QQ Weibo - t.qq.com
(Chinese Twitter in China )
Microblog - Tumblr -
tumbler.com
News
News - (Find the facts - think for yourself -
discard the propaganda)
News - Wikipedia (most accurate and
extensive news source)
News - (You can't understand the present if you
don't understand the past)
News - (Use the search engines but be critical of
the sources.)
News - (All the search engines will search for news. The key is to
decide which news sources are dependable)
News - (Sometimes you need to look at the propaganda to know what
they are up to)
News - Google news search
News - 新浪 Sina news search
News - BBC
(British, good for Africa)
News - New York Times (American)
News - Asia Times (Chinese)
News - Asia Times (English)
News - (The Island) Aljazeera (Middle East
English)
News - Aljazerra الجزيرة (Arabic)
News - Samachar (South Asia)
News - CIA World Fact Book
News - (World Journal) 世界日报 (North American Chinese news)
News - CNet (Computer news)
News - Media Matters (Debunks Fox
lies and other garbage news)
News - Link TV (News from world sources)
News - Defpro.com
(Military news)
News - New Nations.com (Country updates)
News - The Economist (News on the world economy)
News - Russia Today
(Sometimes a good source)
News - China Economic Review -
chinaeconomicreview.com
News - Technorati - technorati.com (Blog
News)
News - Forbs
- fobs.com (economic)
News - Hindustan Times hindustantimes.com
Office software OracleOpenOffice (was StarOffice)
Office - Free - Google Docs - online Word, Excell, Power Point,
News
and lots of other stuff
Photo share - Flickr (picture sharing)
Qing -
qing.weibo.com combines sina
blog, weibo, video, picture and music publishing.
Pinterest Social network for photo sharing
Recommendation
based search - Stumbleupon
- stumbleupon.com
Recommendation
based search - Digg
- digg.com
Recommendation based
search - Reddit
- redit.com
Recommendation
based search - Delicious - delicious.com
Sell
your stuff - Ebay -
ebay.com (Auction - San Francisco - East Bay)
Sell your stuff - Taobao (Pottery Treasure) 淘宝网 - taobao.com (Chinese equivalent of eBay)
Sell your
stuff - Craigslist - craigslist.org (Classified ads, also in
China)
Sell your stuff - Tóng chéng（Same City）同城 -58.com (Biggest
in China)
Site Info - Alexa -
alexa.com (about a site)
Site Info - Go Dady - godady.com (get a domain name)
Site Info - 293.net - 293.net
(Chinese Alexa)
Sohu (Search Fox) 搜狐 - sohu.com (Major
portal)
Input Method Editor - Pinying - Sogou -pinyin.sogou.com
Online games -
17173.com
Sina (New Wave) Xīnlàng 新浪 (Major portal)
Match, BBS, Travel, Yellow Pages, Chinese
Flight
Search Engine - Google 谷歌 -
google.com (Search Engine plus)
[The default search protects
children from porn, reset search parameters to no restrictions]
Hong Kong (Inside China you get redirected to this censored
version)
Also versions for Japan Russia Spain India France Mexico Indonesia
Search Engine - Baidu (100 degrees) 百度 - baidu.com (Search Engine plus)
Search Engine - Bing - bing.com
Search
Engine - Soso（sousou) 搜搜 search -
soso.com
Search
Engine - Yahoo - yahoo.com (Search Engine
plus, English Version)
Search
Engine - Yahoo - yahoo.com.cn (Search Engine plus, Chinese version)
Social Network - (non browser
based) - Skype
Social Network - (non browser
based) - QQ (China's number one)
Social Network - Facebook - facebook.com (General
- Blocked in China without VPN)
Social Network - RenRen (People Web) 人人網
was Xiàonèi wǎng
(internal school web) 校内网
(reputation of teen agers and
young people)
Social Network - QQ 空间 QQ zone -
qzone.qq.com
Blogs, Diaries (China's biggest
social network)
Social Network - Windows Live
- live.com (Windows Live Essentials)
Stand alone or via browser.
Sometimes referred to as MSN (Microsoft
Network) (Very popular for Chinese, not blocked)
includes SkyDrive - free disk storage
space for files Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, was MSN Messenger.
Online Office document editing and viewing.
MSN web page and Bing
Social Network - Google+
-google.com
Social Network - LinkedIn - linkedin.com (Professional - Blocked in
China without VPN)
Social Network - Douban (pea flower petal) Dòubàn豆瓣 - douban.com (Many professional types)
Social Network - Kaixin101
开心网 (Many professional types)
Social Network - NetEase (wangyi) 网易 - 163.com (major
Chinese portal) 163 Micro Blog网易微波
Social Network - Netlog - Chinese -
zh.netlog.com (Belgium - Many language interface,
mainly European)
Social Network - Tumblr - tumblr.com
Social Network - Yahoo - yahoo.com (English Version)
Social Network - Yahoo -
yahoo.com.cn (Chinese version)
Social Network - http://www.msn.com
Security - Registry booster - uniblue
Jia This [adds redirector
buttons to a web site]
Ten cent QQ (Ten Cent 十分）téngxùn 腾讯 (largest Chinese
social network - also in English)
(Instant Messaging, voice, video, text, cut, paste, email)
QQ English download -
download.imqq.com
QQ Chinese download -
im.qq.com
Email QQ - mail.qq.com
Translation Babylon -
babylon.com
Translation - Google
translator
Translation - Baidu translator
Translation - Chrome
automatic web page translator
Transportation - You
will need your passport to take an inter-city train or bus, and of course
airplane in China
Transportation - Air - Cheap Air Tickets (English) -
cheapoair.com
Transportation - Air - Cheap Air Tickets (Chinese) -
flight.gunar.com
Transportation - Bus - Map Bar 图吧 - mapbar.com (Chinese) first put in the city then
Transportation - Bus -
district then local street or bus stop name.
Transportation - Train
- Inter City Trains Chinese
Transportation - Taxies: Are very common, just look for an empty one
with the upturned taxi meter in the window
Transportation - They are
cheap, they will give you a receipt, there is a one dollar tax for taking a
taxi, or you can call the company
Transportation - Map Bar 图吧 - mapbar.com (in Chinese) first put in the city then district then
local street or bus stop name.
Transportation - Search By Map - Transportation - mapbar.com (Map search Dìtú cháxún地图查询)
Transportation - National Train
Schedules - lieche.mapbar.com
(Chinese) navigate to city (You will need a passport to get on a train)
Transportation - National
Train Tickets train.gunar.com 去哪儿 (Chinese)
Transportation - Point to point by train -
lvyou.hao123.com
Transportation - City
Busses - bus.mapbar.com (in Chinese) Navigate to city
Transportation - National and International Air
- lvyou.hao (national and international air)
TV - CNTV (China Network Television)
cntv.cn
TV - CCTV (China Central
Television) cctv.cntv.cn
TV - TTV (Taiwan Television) 台視 ttv.com.tw
TV - Tianjin Television (TJTV)
天津电视 tjtv.com.cn
TV - Phoenix Television Fènghuáng Wèixīng Diànshì 鳳凰衛星電視 (Chinese) phtv.ifengcom
TV - Phoenix Television Fènghuáng Wèixīng Diànshì 鳳凰衛星電視 (English) phoenixtv.com
TV - U.S. commercial TV 葫蘆(葫芦) (calabash) 互錄(互录) hùlù (interactive recording)
Video
- 视频 shìpín
Video - Youtube
- youtube.com (blocked in China without VPN)
Video
- Youtube Downloader -
download.cnet.com (for downloading YouTube videos)
Video - Tudou
(Potato) 土豆网 (Chinese equivalent of YouTube)
Video - Youku
(Excellent Cool) 优酷 (Chinese equivalent of YouTube)
Video
- Soku
/ Youku Search engine soku
搜酷Sōu kù is youku's new search engine
Video - iKu downloader for Youku
Video - Movie
rental - NetFlix -
netflix.com
Video
- Adobe Flash Player -
download.cnet.com
Video - sharing
- vimeo.com
Video
- Flash Video downloader for Google Chrome - download.cnet.com
Video
- Kuber - China Video Downloader - download.cnet.com
Video
- (For tudou.com,
youku.com, 56.com, ku6.com 6.cn, video.qq.com, tv.sohu.com)
Video - Movies
Internet Movie Database - imdb.com (Internet Movie Database blocked in China
without VPN)
Video - Dailymotion -
dailymotion.com
Wenxuecity
(Literature City) 文学城 - wenxuecity.com (blocked in China without VPN)
(Major information portal,
popular with overseas Chinese in Chinese)
News, Forums, Blogs, Stock
Market, Shopping, Classifieds, Career, Events
Viscous Lies and Rumors:
In China we have what the government
calls viscous lies and rumors. They can be found on Weibo
and other places. Viscous lies and rumors often turn out to be true. In the
rest of the world we can check things out on: http://www.snopes.com/
Internet cafe -
In
China you can find internet cafes where you can use their computers, look for the word网吧 avoid the word 王八
DTTB (Digital Television Terrestrial Broadcasting) 4 world standards
U.S.
ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) (8 VSB) (8 level Vestigial
Sideband)
Europe
DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial) utilizes
C-OFDM (Coded - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) modulation
Japan
ISDB-T (Terrestrial Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) uses OFCM and 2D
interleaving. and supports hierarchical transmission of up to 3 layers of
MPEG-2 and advanced audio coding.
China
HK - DTMB (Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcasting) adopts
TDS (Time Domain Synchronous) OFDM and utilizes
pseudo
random signal frame to serve as a GI (Guard Interval) for the OFDM.
1280x720
progressive scan = 720p 16:9 aspect ratio
1920x1080
interlaced video 1080i 16:9 aspect ratio
PSIP (Program and System Information Protocol)
DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television)