How do I keep in touch - UK to China??

[ElenW]

My special guy is going to China soon for five months. :'( When he was in Europe last year, we used Facebook, GMail and Skype, but I suspect China won't be as easy. Does anyone have an LDR to or from there and, if so, what works for you??

Many thanks...El xx

[squeeker]

Hey I'm sorry I don't have any advice on your situation because I don't know what is or isn't allowed in China. I hope someone else here can help with that!!

I do want to say.. even if your communication is limited, 5 months is not even half a year even though it's close, and if you can't talk that much, try and keep yourself busy. Maybe try and find out if there is any way your guy can find out what is allowed? Does he know someone in China that he could ask? I don't know how he is going there, whether work, school, or family related.. or something else.. but I would think there would be someone maybe helping him move over who might know life in China and what kind of communications he will be allowed to use to keep connected with people back home?

Good luck and stay strong during this time!

[dglynn77]

If you both have iPhones you can use the app kik to message. A phone/data plan is super cheap in china. Also skype works well in china. This is what we did. We also purchased a Skype number that was local to my SO in the US and had it forward the calls to my Chinese # for free. That way he would call the number at no extra charge to him, and I would be able to answer his calls at no extra cost to me on my Chinese plan.
The only downside to this is that you would have to call him, it won't work the opposite way.

China has two major phone companies, china mobile and china Unicom. I used china mobile as it is pretty cheap and month by month.

Facebook is not available in china, unless you use a VPN, which can get expensive and even then they sometimes won't work.
Also, gmail might be spotty as sometimes google and china seem to have disagreements that disrupt service.

Kik always worked for us and was pretty much instant.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I worked in china for 13 months.

[milaya]

Facebook is blocked, but Skype is still available in China, so if you both have computers and internet connections, then I don't see China stopping you from continuing to use Skype. There's also an array of unblock programs - but because I have a mac computer, I couldn't use them.

[lucybelle]

I'm positive dg knows more than I do about China since she lived there, but I use a VPN here in Costa Rica and it's not expensive at all. I pay $5/month. It's called unblock-us.com and doesn't have any ads.