翻墙

翻牆
fānqiáng
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to climb over a wall
  2. 2 to circumvent the Great Firewall
  3. 3 to bypass internet censorship

Examples

Tā měitiān dōu fānqiáng kàn YouTube.
He bypasses the firewall every day to watch YouTube.
Bù fānqiáng jiù yòng bù liǎo Gǔgē.
Without bypassing the firewall, you can't use Google.

Tips

culture
Literally 'to climb over the wall' — the 'wall' being the 防火长城 (Great Firewall of China). Coined in the mid-2000s after authorities began blocking foreign sites. A close cousin is 科学上网 ('scientific internet access'), a slightly more euphemistic phrase used to dodge keyword filters.
register
Sensitive vocabulary. Usable among friends, on private chats, and in foreign-language contexts, but risky to search openly on mainland platforms. 梯子 (tīzi, 'ladder') is a common code-name for a VPN tool used to 翻墙.

Stroke Order

fān
qiáng