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UPDATE: China's Great Firewall

China now seems to restrict Chinese users from circumventing its Great Firewall to access Gmail through clients like Apple Mail and Outlook.

Following China's recent move to block mirror sites from GreatFire.org, a number of international websites found themselves unexpectedly blocked in China, despite having kept a safe distance from China's "sensitive sites" list, which includes sites like Google sites and Facebook.com.

In the case of Google's Gmail, though, Chinese users have (until now) managed to craftily circumvent the restriction through Apple Mail or Outlook. That's because these email clients offer a different route to Gmail's servers that weren't blocked by China.

However, the latest updates as of mid December show that even the IP addresses from Apple Mail and Outlook have now been blocked. Google's transparency report below seems to indicate there was a sharp decline in Gmail usage from China right around that time.1

Will Gmail service through chat clients be restored? This remains to be seen.

This latest development, however, is reminder again of how capricious China's Great Firewall can be, and highlights the importance of ensuring your visiblity to Chinese buyers behind the Great Firewall.

Keen to know more? Find out how the Great Firewall's latest update impacts you as an international property agents here.

Sources: Gigaom.com