Is WordPress Blocked in China?

When it comes to building websites and creating blogs, WordPress is one of the best platforms ever to exist on this planet.

However it seems that a lot of people are getting difficulties trying to get their websites accessible by Chinese visitors from China.

Is that true?

Let me explain…

The answer to whether WordPress is blocked in China or not is both yes and no.

This is because WordPress.Com is the one being blocked, NOT WordPress.org.

The “.com” and “.org” version of WordPress are two entirely different entities.

If you are using WordPress.com, your website or blog is managed by the WordPress team in almost every aspect from the web hosting to the themes which means that your only part is to write content and make your site grow.

If you are using WordPress.org on the other hand, you are creating the website on your own accord and WordPress has nothing to do with your website besides being just a platform to organize and optimize your site better.

This means that if you are using WordPress.com to build your website, your site will be categorized under the WordPress name because you are leaving your site in their hands, most particularly for the web hosting server.

So because WordPress has conflicting issues with China’s rules and regulations which they did well not to comply, ANY websites that are under WordPress.com has to follow that rule.

Why WordPress.org is exceptional…

Unlike its “.com” counterpart, WordPress.com has more space for flexibility.

If you’re using WordPress.org, you can install anything you want and set up your site with any web hosts you like which in other words, mean that you do everything on your site manually.

Although it sounds like hard work, it’s actually not because millions of website owners prefer the “.com” version due to its flexibility.

If you’re curious to know, yes, even this very website you’re reading is a WordPress.com version!

You don’t have to target the Chinese market

Some people tend to find this as an excuse to give up because they can’t get that huge Chinese market.

They get so depressed that they even stopped building their website because they thought that they are losing half of their potential profits even before they start their business online (China is the second biggest World economy after the USA to make it worse).

Don’t be like that!

Sure China’s market has a VERY strong censorship that many companies and organizations like Twitter, Facebook even Wikipedia find it impossible to go through.

But if those huge companies that took decades to build can’t pass through China’s censorship, why would you think yours can?

The Chinese people are very clever, they know that many things from the outside World are blocked but as the genius saboteurs that they are, they will find ways to bypass their own country’s security whenever they have a reason to.

For example, my best friend lives in Shanghai so whenever we want to communicate, he will bypass the security in order to use Whatsapp and Facebook which I would say, is pretty awesome.

So my advice to you all is just go on building your website because with or without the Chinese market, you will be successful anyway!

Conclusion

WordPress.com sure does sound unattractive especially with the fact that you need to do everything manually but it is also the only version of WordPress (as opposed to the “.com” version) that China accepts.

So if you want to grab that huge Chinese market online, by all means do go with WordPress.com version for your website.

For more information on building a WordPress website, check out my review of Wealthy Affiliate here.

Also, if you have any experience with getting through China’s website censorship feel free to share them below and I’ll be more than happy to reply.