Add an S for Uncensored Google Search in China

The Great Firewall of China censors hundreds of keywords. In the case of Google, this means that if you search for any of them the result is the infamous Connection Reset. However, if you use the encrypted version of Google, the firewall cannot filter the connection based on keywords. Accessing the encrypted version of Google from China takes a few tweaks, but it is not blocked. The reason that it's not straightforward to use is that Google redirects you to other URLs depending on what you start out with. Here's an overview:

You go to	You're redirected to	Encrypted (HTTPS)	Can search for blocked keywords	Accessible in China
http://www.google.cn	http://www.google.com.hk *	N	N	Y
http://www.google.com	http://www.google.com.hk	N	N	Y
https://www.google.com	http://www.google.com.hk	N	N	Y
https://www.google.com/ncr	http://www.google.com	N	N	Y
https://encrypted.google.com	-	Y	Y	N
https://www.google.com.hk	-	Y	Y	Y
https://www.google.co.uk	-	Y	Y	Y

So, as you can see, if you enter https://www.google.com.hk or https://www.google.co.uk, you are not redirected, the site is encrypted, you can search for any keywords and the sites are not blocked in China. In other words, you have uncensored Google searches in China without a VPN.

Another alternative is to use the HTTPS Everywhere plugin available for Firefox and Chrome.

* The redirect on http://www.google.cn is manual, you have to click to go to the Hong Kong version of Google. All other redirects are done automatically, without the user being informed.