As a promoter for various proxies for Facebook in China, I've seen a lot of statistics over the years about who signs up for these types of services. One thing that might surprise you, is that the majority of people signing up for a proxy for Facebook in China are Chinese. Many are coming from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but there are still a lot more that expected originating from Mainland China.

Originally, I was under the impression that most people signing up for this type of service would be foreigners who are living in China temporarily and want to keep up with family and friends back home. But I think that the Chinese people who are signing up are trying to stay in touch with school mates and friends from overseas. Perhaps these are people they met while traveling, or friends from a study abroad program. Because Facebook is relatively unknown in Mainland China (as opposed to QQ and RenRen), Chinese who are signing up for a proxy for Facebook in China must be looking to contact non-Chinese outside of China.

These are just theories of mine, and now for the goods.

Is there a proxy for Facebook in China that's cheap, reliable, fast, and not blocked by the Chinese government?

Yes.

But first I'd like to remind you that to unblock sites in China you've got two choices. Virtual private networks work in a similar way to proxies in that they reroute your computers communication with the Internet through a server located outside of China. Through this server you're given a temporary IP address that's not your own.

The advantage of a VPN is that it encodes your whole computer instead of just your browser. This is good for P2P file exchanges and for people that frequent wifi cafes and other wifi spots. They tend to be more expensive, but not always.

As for a proxy, the advantage is that you can use it on multiple devices, including your iPhone. Unlike VPNs which usually restrict you to one license per computer, web based proxies can be accessed on any device that can browse the web, and as long as you don't sign in to two devices at the same time, you're alright. That means that you can use your proxy for Facebook in China at your apartment. Then on your iPhone on the way to work, and again once you get to work.

As I promised earlier, I'll reaveal that fast, cheap, and reliable web based proxy that I use. I use Securitales web based proxy, and it works great. It is currently one of the ONLY (and maybe THE only) working proxies in China.