Yes, maybe it is blocked where you are. Facebook is also blocked, but one guy from Ghana I met in Hangzhou in 2012 had a software to circumvent that blockage and was able to access Facebook on a regular basis. And there is nothing the Chinese authorities can do about it...LOL

Yep, hats off to that Ghanaian!

I believe you'll be flying to the Philippines from Europe in the near future to teach German to local trainee nurses.

It so happens I have a Chinese friend whose Chinese brother-in law was working in Sweden, and subsequently obtained Swedish nationality. The year before last the Swede had vacationed to China to reunite with his family members, flying outward from Stockholm to Beijing on a round-trip ticket of the type where you have just 3 days warning before having to fly the first leg. That round-trip ticket cost just 2,000 RMB!

However, my Chinese friend feels very sad because the cheapest round-trip ticket between the two capitals he can get here in China costs 10,000 RMB, and he can't afford that! So he won't be able to visit his sister and his brother-in-law in Sweden.

Is it in fact the case that '3 days warning round trip tickets' between Stockholm and Asian capitals are still so cheap?

In the light of the above, I'd advise westerners flying to China for the first time to teach (or deech!) EFL to purchase the aforementioned kind of round-trip ticket in their homelands in order to make money on flight allowances offered by Chinese employers at the end of their teaching contracts. Would you agree with my advice?