computer use in Beijing
 

Is there any problem with accessing Microsoft web access in Beijing? I will want to be able to contact my work e amil

Not sure exactly what you mean when you say "accessing Microsoft web access" - is it a particular site you need to access to send web-based emails using Yahoo or whatever? And are you looking for WiFi access for a laptop, or planning to use PCs in internet cafes and/or hotel business centres?

The Chinese government does deny access to certain sites for political reasons, but I doubt that this would affect your ability to send work-based emails.

I was in Beijing in April. Our hotel offered internet access, and I was able to use my personal e-mail through the web. We did notice a couple of interesting situations while we were there: my nephew, who was travelling with us, was unable to access his hotmail account, my wife couldn't get into blogger.com, and I was only occasionally able to load the BBC website. Everthing else we tried worked perfectly.

I am not sure what caused these problems. They may have had nothing to do with state involvement, but I certainly suspected it was a case of "unlimited web access, with Chinese characteristics."

Anselm

The BBC website is generally blocked here as is blogspot.com. I wouldn't count on being able to access your work e-mail - I've had lots of friends visit who were unable to log on to their web-based work accounts. Yahoo mail, google mail - those are reliably accessible. But hotmail has had recent problems.

The ABC's site (think of it as Australia's BBC) was blocked at least once when something they ran displeased the government, but the ban didn't last long.

(The ABC has sometimes created friction with Asian countries who refused to believe that as a government-funded broadcaster it was not speaking for the Australian Government when it ran critical comment.)

Neil_Oz, there is a CBC, too. It's the Canadian equivalent, and we had no trouble looking at it every day in Beijing.

Petitepois, thanks for confriming what I suspected. I gather there are ways around the Great Firewall, but we weren't desparate.

Anselm

Yes, know about CBC, Anselm. BTW, I read that the government has even gone to the extreme of installing CCTV cameras in some internet cafes.

Also understand that for every government censor putting up walls there are several Chinese geeks beavering away at getting around them. My money is on the geeks.

Expect to be blocked from accessing many of your usual websites from china.
I tried to access international news websites, all were blocked.I could access my email, however.