Surfshark still supports customers in China, but it no longer offers the method most older guides describe. It dropped Shadowsocks on November 11, 2021, so the manual Shadowsocks setup in the earlier version of this page no longer works. Surfshark's current advice, in a help center article updated October 2, 2026, is to connect manually with WireGuard when the Surfshark app won't connect. It doesn't promise that either method will work, and connecting from China is a legal risk you should weigh first. Everything below follows Surfshark's help center as it stood on November 4, 2026.
The law comes first
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology banned unlicensed VPNs in 2017, and providers need government approval to offer one, according to Freedom House's Freedom on the Net 2024 report. The same report describes penalties for users: in August 2023 a software programmer was fined 200 yuan ($30) for using an unauthorized VPN to work for an overseas company, and police seized 1.1 million yuan ($150,000) of his earnings. A university student was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2017 after using a VPN and viewing what authorities called illegal information.
Your own risk depends on who you are and what you do online, and we can't give legal advice. If you are going for work, ask your employer whether it provides an approved corporate connection before you rely on a consumer VPN.
Why older Surfshark guides no longer work
Surfshark's help center gives its reasons for removing Shadowsocks. Only about 0.5% of its users used it, almost none of the customers connecting near heavily restricted regions chose it, and most of them got a better connection with OpenVPN or WireGuard. Surfshark put its effort into those protocols instead.
The Surfshark app's own anti-blocking feature is NoBorders mode. The app switches it on when it detects that someone is restricting your network, then connects you to the nearest of a set of servers meant to work under geo-blocking or government censorship. Surfshark's NoBorders page doesn't name China.
Set everything up before you travel
Freedom House reported that as of October 2024, more than 16,000 apps were unavailable on Apple's App Store in China, including hundreds of VPN services. Plan on installing everything at home.
- Buy a Surfshark plan, or start the free trial. Surfshark offers a 7-day trial on its 12-month and 24-month plans, for up to three devices, and asks for a card, PayPal or Apple Pay before it starts.
- Install the Surfshark app on every device you are taking and sign in. One subscription covers unlimited devices once the trial ends.
- Install the WireGuard app too: from the Google Play Store on Android, the App Store on iPhone, or the installer Surfshark links on Windows.
- Set up at least one WireGuard profile for each device, using the steps below, and test it at home. Do this before you leave so you don't depend on reaching Surfshark's account pages from China.
- Install a second VPN from a different company as a backup. Freedom House says VPN blocking usually escalates before high-profile events, such as the annual legislative sessions, and a second provider gives you another way back online.
If the app won't connect
Surfshark's general advice for restricted networks is to try these in the app first:
- Open Settings, then VPN Settings, then Protocol, and work through the options. Surfshark says its OpenVPN servers are obfuscated.
- Try at least five different server locations.
- Turn off any other VPN on the device.
- Check that NoBorders is on: open Settings, scroll to Advanced and switch on the NoBorders toggle.
If none of that works, move to the manual WireGuard setup.
Set up WireGuard manually
Surfshark has separate guides for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, plus Linux. The account steps are the same on each.
- Sign in to your Surfshark account on its website and open VPN, then Manual setup. Choose "Desktop or mobile," then WireGuard.
- If you don't have a key pair, choose "I don't have a key pair," give it a name and generate one. Copy both keys and store them on your device, because Surfshark won't show them again.
- Choose a location and press the download button to get its configuration file. Download files for several locations so you have something to switch to.
- Import the file into the WireGuard app. On Windows, click "Import tunnel(s) from file." On Android, tap +, then "Import from file or archive." On iPhone, tap "Add a tunnel."
- Switch the tunnel on. On Windows the button says "Activate."
- Run Surfshark's IP leak test and DNS leak test to check the connection is up.
On Windows, Surfshark links its WireGuard installer from download addresses on shark-china.com and surfy-chiny.com, two alternative domains Surfshark uses for China downloads. Its China article links its manual setup guides on shark-china.com too.
One trade-off: the Surfshark apps add a post-quantum encryption layer to WireGuard, and Surfshark says manual WireGuard configurations don't support it. You keep standard WireGuard encryption.
When to choose another VPN for China
Surfshark makes sense when a family is moving to or visiting China with a lot of devices, because one account covers them all. If you live or work there and need a connection you can count on, look at our guide to the best VPNs for China. Our top pick there, Astrill, names China in its FAQ and takes WeChat Pay and AliPay, though its FAQ says all sales are final. Proton VPN has a free plan for one device that includes its Stealth anti-blocking protocol, which makes it a good second VPN to install alongside Surfshark.
If you buy Surfshark, the 7-day trial is followed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you have 37 days in all to ask for a refund. Use that time to test the connection where you will be staying. Current prices are on our Surfshark listing.
