Breaking through the great firewall: ensuring website performance in China

Understanding the regulatory landscape

At the core of the challenge lies the "Great Firewall of China" – a combination of legislative actions and technologies used by Chinese authorities to regulate internet traffic. Websites hosted outside mainland China often experience high latency, incomplete loading, or are blocked altogether. Even when a site isn't explicitly restricted, performance can degrade significantly due to filtering, routing inefficiencies, or the lack of optimised delivery paths.

China's Cybersecurity Law further tightens control by requiring websites operating within the country to comply with local data storage and content regulations. Companies that host their sites on Chinese infrastructure are expected to obtain an Internet Content Provider (ICP) licence – a process that can be lengthy and, for foreign entities, legally complex. As a result, many international organisations choose to host their sites elsewhere, only to discover that this severely affects reach and performance for users in China. 

Technical barriers beyond regulation

The challenges are not limited to government controls. The Chinese internet ecosystem is structured differently from what many Western developers are used to. Many global Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) have limited or no presence on the mainland, and third-party services, such as analytics tools, fonts, or script libraries, are often blocked or slow to load. These dependencies can seriously disrupt an otherwise well-built website when accessed from China.

Additionally, DNS resolution within China may follow different routing paths than those in international networks, resulting in unpredictable response times. Packet loss, slow TLS handshakes, and long connection times are common symptoms of this fragmented connectivity. 

Our approach to the problem

At Comprend, we believe accessibility should not stop at borders. To make our clients' websites perform well for audiences in China, we adopted a specialised, legal solution that bridges the gap between global hosting and the Chinese internet environment.

This approach works by analysing the site's structure, optimising assets, and delivering content via a network specifically designed to improve availability and speed inside mainland China – without requiring an ICP licence or a physical server presence. It detects blocked or slow-loading resources, replaces or reroutes them through compliant alternatives, and ensures that pages render thoroughly and quickly for Chinese users.

From a technical standpoint, this involves intelligent caching, HTML optimisation, and region-specific routing that adapts dynamically to changing network conditions. The result is a substantial improvement in load times and reliability, bringing user experience in China much closer to that of other markets.

Why this matters

For companies with a global footprint, reaching audiences in China is too important to ignore. Whether it's a corporate site, an investor portal, or a marketing platform, ensuring that Chinese visitors can access and engage with your content is both a business and reputational priority.

While the regulatory and technical landscape may seem daunting, modern solutions now allow organisations to maintain compliance, avoid costly infrastructure changes, and still deliver a high-quality digital experience across borders.

In summary

Being accessible in China is not just about hosting your website closer to users; it's also about ensuring that your website is optimised for Chinese users. It requires navigating a unique combination of regulation, infrastructure, and technology. By understanding these challenges and using a solution designed specifically for the Chinese internet, it's possible to achieve both compliance and performance. The outcome is a faster, more reliable, and truly global web presence – precisely what modern digital communication demands.