Even many of the most reliable virtual private networks may be hit-and-miss when users turn to them in a place like the People’s Republic of China.
“Nine out of ten internet users in Iran now fire up a VPN just to open everyday apps. In China, the Great Firewall keeps crushing the big-name services you see on YouTube ads; travelers report that Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and NordVPN work only intermittently” (Harlem World Magazine, April 9, 2026).
What to do?
An HW-recommended VPN must have proven itself “in at least two hard-censor countries with the last 12 months,” must include “built-in obfuscation that passes deep-packet inspection” (i.e., can fool scanners into thinking that the VPN’s traffic is regular Internet traffic), must provide “a verified kill switch and a published no-logs policy,” and must provide adequate “alternative download paths” so that the VPN app can be gotten to begin with.
The winners: TorGuard, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark (but if you “rely on Surfshark in China or Iran, keep a backup ready”), VyprVPN, and ProtonVPN.
If you can get past the reviews of each alternative (NordVPN’s “simplicity sits on top of serious engineering”), you will reach a chart that compares features and prices. The VPNs that seem best for China are TorGuard, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, VyprVPN, and ProtonVPN (with the caveat that ProtonVPN may suffer from suffer from relatively high latency in China). This list includes all of HW’s top picks but Surfshark.
It also includes NordVPN and ExpressVPN, which the article has said are—according to user reports—only intermittently effective in battle with the Great Firewall. Harlem World is presumably relying only on its own recent testing, not also what VPN users have reported, to arrive at its final assessments. But it makes sense when you’re stuck in Iran or China to have at least one backup VPN on hand if at all possible.
