AI TOOLS IN CHINA

Are AI tools blocked in China?

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are hard to reach in mainland China — and not only because of the Great Firewall. OpenAI and Anthropic actively block China IP addresses, so you need a VPN with a clean overseas exit. Here is what works, what is geoblocked, and which China-native AIs run without a VPN.

How long is your trip?

For a short trip, start with Yoho VPN free (1 GB/mo full speed) for maps and chat, and pair an eSIM so you are online the moment you land.

For a week or two of daily use, Pro (200 GB/mo, all 15 locations) keeps streaming, AI tools and video calls smooth. Set it up before you fly.

For a long stay or work trip, go Pro for full-speed data across all locations, and keep Smart Split on so WeChat, Alipay and maps stay fast and direct.

13 of these AI tools are blocked or geoblocked in mainland China.

ChatGPT (OpenAI) Blocks China IPs AI chat/gen OpenAI blocks China IPs — needs an overseas exit

OpenAI API Blocks China IPs Dev/API OpenAI blocks mainland China + HK

Claude (Anthropic) Blocks China IPs AI chat/gen Anthropic blocks China — overseas exit needed

Google Gemini Blocks China IPs AI chat/gen not offered in mainland China

Microsoft Copilot Unreliable AI chat/gen reachable but often limited

GitHub Copilot Unreliable Dev/API works but slow via GitHub

Perplexity Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

Poe Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

Character.AI Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

Midjourney Needs a VPN AI chat/gen runs on Discord (also blocked)

DALL·E Blocks China IPs AI chat/gen via OpenAI — China blocked

Stable Diffusion (online) Unreliable AI chat/gen

Runway Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

Suno Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

ElevenLabs Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

Hugging Face Unreliable Dev/API site reachable; downloads slow

Grammarly Unreliable Tools

Notion AI Unreliable Tools

Meta AI Needs a VPN AI chat/gen

ERNIE 文心一言 (Baidu) Works in China China AI

Doubao 豆包 (ByteDance) Works in China China AI

Kimi (Moonshot) Works in China China AI

Qwen 通义千问 (Alibaba) Works in China China AI

DeepSeek Works in China China AI

Zhipu 智谱清言 Works in China China AI

Tencent Yuanbao 元宝 Works in China China AI

Get Yoho VPN before you fly

Install and sign in while you still have open internet — app stores are hard to reach inside China.

Download the app Get an eSIM for data

More China connectivity checks

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Access depends on your network, carrier and region and can change day to day. This is guidance, not a guarantee. Hong Kong and Macau are not behind the mainland firewall.