Does ChatGPT Work in China?

What happens when you open ChatGPT in China

ChatGPT is blocked on Chinese mobile data and Wi-Fi. A July 2026 guide for Australian tourists in the Bega District News lists ChatGPT among the services China has completely blocked, along with Google, WhatsApp and Instagram. The AP reported in 2024 that ChatGPT is technically unavailable in China because of the country’s firewall. GreatFire keeps a test history for chatgpt.com that shows it blocked.

China Survival Kit, which sells a China travel toolkit, says the block usually shows up as the website not loading, endless spinning, a home page that loads while chats fail, or random timeouts. It says the experience varies with the carrier, the region and the connection path.

OpenAI doesn’t support China or Hong Kong

Getting past China’s firewall isn’t always enough, because OpenAI doesn’t serve China either. Its list of countries and territories where it supports ChatGPT, on the web and on mobile, leaves out mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Taiwan is on the list. The AP reported that OpenAI told some users it would take additional measures to block connections from regions not on its list, starting July 9, 2024. Gizmodo said in July 2026 that nothing had changed since.

Hong Kong’s internet isn’t filtered like the mainland’s, so the block there is OpenAI’s own. Gizmodo calls it “OpenAI’s own decision, not censorship.” A traveler who arrived in Hong Kong from South Korea wrote on OpenAI’s community forum in June 2024 that ChatGPT said they were using a VPN, although they were on normal Hong Kong internet.

OpenAI warns that accessing ChatGPT from an unsupported country may get your account blocked or suspended. It also says that if you created your account in a supported country and then travel somewhere it doesn’t support, you may have trouble logging in. You may also see errors about an unsupported country after you get home. OpenAI suggests clearing your browser’s cache and cookies, then trying another browser or incognito mode, and contacting support if that fails. Its help pages don’t say how it decides which country you’re in.

On a roaming eSIM or home roaming

A travel eSIM or home roaming can get you to ChatGPT without a VPN, but only if your data comes out in a country OpenAI supports.

Salil Kanhere, a cybersecurity expert at UNSW, told the Bega District News that certain travel eSIMs bypass mainland filtering by routing traffic through offshore gateways such as Hong Kong, Singapore or Australia. He said roaming data is in many cases routed through your home carrier or an overseas gateway. A local Chinese SIM or a China-specific eSIM, he said, typically remains subject to local filtering.

The gateway decides what ChatGPT sees. Your connection gets an IP address from the gateway’s network, not from where you are. Holafly, an eSIM seller, says some of its partners assign IP addresses from their own infrastructure, regardless of your physical location. Gizmodo’s reviewer says ChatGPT checks your IP address when you sign in.

A Hong Kong gateway gets you past China’s firewall, but not past OpenAI. Find Your eSIM, which tested eSIMs in China and earns affiliate commissions, says companies like ChatGPT and TikTok often block access from Hong Kong themselves, so those apps might still not work. Its tests, updated April 2026, found data coming out in these places:

• Hong Kong: Nomad and 3HK. Saily came out in the UK or Hong Kong.
• Singapore: Jetpac’s Asia plan, Maya Mobile and Eskimo, among others. Airalo too, though Find Your eSIM says it may now use Hong Kong.
• Elsewhere: Ubigi in South Korea, and Yesim in Poland and the UK.

Other sources differ for two providers. Find Your eSIM also lists Holafly in Singapore, but WhistleOut’s reviewer, after four days in mainland China, says Holafly’s data goes out through Hong Kong. Yesim’s own August 2026 blog gives its China routing as Singapore and Hong Kong.

Find Your eSIM calls these snapshots in time. Providers can change partners or routing, and results vary by plan. It says MobiMatter, an eSIM marketplace, shows the IP routing at checkout. Compare plans on our eSIM page.

Some sellers mention ChatGPT by name. Hidden China Travel, which reviewed Trip.com’s eSIM with affiliate links, says Trip.com labels the plans it reviewed “ChatGPT Available”, and that ChatGPT worked without a separate VPN in its mobile-data testing in Yunnan. Simify, another seller, says TikTok and ChatGPT may be restricted or unavailable on its eSIMs in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, and that its network supplier enforces this.

Either way, this only works on mobile data. Hidden China Travel says hotel and public Wi-Fi remain mainland connections and may still need a VPN.

With a VPN

A VPN can get you past both blocks, as long as it connects to a server in a country OpenAI supports. The AP reported that determined people in China reach ChatGPT through commonly available VPNs. Gizmodo’s guide for Hong Kong says to connect to a server in a supported region, and names the US, UK, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. A server in Hong Kong would get you past China’s firewall but not OpenAI’s block.

You need a VPN on hotel and other local Wi-Fi, where a roaming eSIM doesn’t help. Set it up before you fly. China Survival Kit suggests installing two and testing both at home, because one can be slow or blocked. If ChatGPT loads but messages won’t send, it suggests switching VPN server. Compare the VPNs we track on our VPN page.

The UK government says China’s cybersecurity laws require online products and services such as VPNs to be licensed by the Chinese government. Read Is a VPN legal in China? before you go.

ChatGPT and Claude

Claude isn’t supported in China either. Anthropic’s list of supported countries and regions covers its apps, including Claude.ai and Claude Code, and its API. It leaves out mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and includes Taiwan. Anthropic says unsupported use includes use by people while they’re physically located in an unsupported region, and by companies majority-owned or controlled by people or companies there. GreatFire’s test history for claude.ai shows access from mainland China as unreliable.

Chinese alternatives

OpenAI doesn’t offer a Chinese version of ChatGPT. China has its own chatbots, which China Survival Kit describes as options that don’t depend on international access.

• Doubao: ByteDance’s chatbot. NPR calls it China’s most popular, and says it’s built into Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
• Qwen (通义千问): Alibaba’s chatbot. NPR says it can order things for you and pay through Alipay.
• Yuanbao: Tencent’s chatbot, folded into WeChat and connected to WeChat Pay, according to NPR.
• DeepSeek and Kimi: NPR names DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, which makes Kimi, among China’s prominent AI startups.
• ERNIE Bot (文心一言): Baidu’s chatbot, which China Survival Kit lists with Qwen and Kimi.

China Survival Kit says English output from ERNIE Bot and Qwen can vary. The AP reported in 2024 that Chinese AI models must abide by China’s censorship rules. We couldn’t confirm which of these let you sign up with a foreign phone number.

Related guides

• eSIM or VPN for China?
• VPN for hotel Wi-Fi in China
• Apps to download before going to China