Improve Website Access in China
A practical approach for international businesses
Assess current performance, prepare your website for cutover, and verify the experience for users in mainland China while keeping your existing hostname and origin. Designed for websites hosted outside mainland China, this offshore solution does not require an ICP filing.
Measured example
See the access comparison
Explore multi-day monitoring of a test website, plus separate browser and HTTP snapshots, with the scope and limitations of each measurement.
View the measured resultsWhat this solution covers
- Agree on the pages, user locations, carrier networks, and metrics to assess before and after cutover
- Review the existing hostname, DNS, certificate, origin, and protection requirements before launch
- Where your website configuration allows, compare a representative page through a dedicated test subdomain before changing production DNS
- Coordinate the DNS change with your team and keep a documented rollback path
- Verify access and key user workflows after launch, then review results with your team
Who it's for
Digital, infrastructure, and application teams at international businesses whose customers, employees, or partners need to access their websites from mainland China.
Suitable sites
- Corporate and marketing websites where visitors in mainland China experience slow or inconsistent page loads.
- SaaS applications and e-commerce sites that need key pages and user journeys checked after cutover.
- Sites that need to retain their existing origin and domain while improving access from mainland China.
Our approach
We start with the experience you need to improve and the pages or workflows that matter to your users. Your team provides the existing domain and origin details; we assess the setup, prepare the service, and agree on checks for launch. After the DNS change, we compare access against the baseline and review the findings with your team.
Architecture overview
How it works
- 1
Resolve the website address
To route traffic through the service, your DNS administrator typically updates a CNAME record. DNS then directs requests for your existing website hostname to a CIH access endpoint.
- 2
Connect through an optimized cross-border path
The CIH edge platform directs users in mainland China to a Hong Kong edge node. Users then connect to the node over an optimized cross-border network path, rather than the default public-internet route.
- 3
Protect and process requests
The CIH edge platform handles HTTPS and provides basic security protection, with access controls and request rate limiting configured for your site. Advanced DDoS protection is available for an additional fee.
- 4
Retrieve and deliver content
The service delivers eligible content from cache or retrieves it from your existing origin when needed, then returns it to the visitor. Compression may be applied to supported content. Your website hostname and origin remain in place.
Launch and rollback
Launch
- Complete the onboarding information form; together, we agree on the pages, locations, and metrics for the initial baseline.
- We prepare and check the service. Your DNS administrator records the current DNS value and TTL, then typically switches the hostname using a CNAME record; TXT verification is usually not required.
- Together, verify access and key workflows from mainland locations and compare the results with the baseline.
Rollback
- Restore the DNS record value saved before cutover at the same DNS provider.
- Allow for DNS cache expiry according to the record TTL, then verify that traffic again reaches the previous destination.
See how your website performs in China
Get a complimentary assessment of a public page from selected locations in mainland China. We’ll share the results and a short interpretation.
Related solutions
Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Connectivity
Organizations running workloads in mainland China often need to connect China-based cloud environments — including AWS China Regions and Azure operated by 21Vianet — or China branches to public cloud regions overseas. These environments are operated separately, and cross-border connectivity requires a separately designed and provisioned path. We coordinate connectivity options for supported architectures, taking bandwidth, latency, route availability, workload design, and applicable requirements into account. Options range from managed 50 Mbps-1 Gbps virtual connections through partners such as Megaport and Equinix Fabric, among others, to dedicated 1-100 Gbps physical connections for data-heavy workloads.
Learn morePrivate Site-to-Site Connectivity
End-to-end private connectivity between your China sites and the rest of the world, built from two circuit types that work together: DPLC for the domestic point-to-point legs between Chinese cities, and IEPL or MPLS for the cross-border leg. Both are Layer 2, so your own routing runs across the whole path, and both are uncontended, so latency, jitter, and packet loss stay stable through the evening peak instead of degrading with the public internet. We source from China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, and alternative operators, then choose the combination that fits your route, bandwidth, and budget — and we hold the carrier relationships, so you sign one contract and escalate through one path. The same point-to-point capability covers routes that never touch China — two overseas sites, or a data centre and an office outside the mainland — on the same Layer 2, uncontended terms.
Learn moreHardware-Free Managed Network
Build your network out of virtual routers and firewalls rather than physical appliances. We deploy RouterOS, VyOS, FortiGate, or Zscaler VSE as virtual instances wherever your traffic needs them — inside a cloud region, in a colocation cage, at an office edge — then interconnect them into one routed, policy-controlled network over our multi-carrier DIA and Private Connect underlay. No hardware procurement, no customs, no local IT team. Configuration, policy, OS updates, and 24/7 monitoring are handled for you, and you keep administrative access and full visibility.
Learn more