BEIJINGMay 4 -- BEIJING, May 4 (UPI) -- Foreign students at China's universities are resorting to proxy services and virtual private networks to bypass China’s Internet censorship. While a range of sites have been blocked, students say their desire to access social media sites such as Facebook is the driving force behind this large-scale use of tunneling networks.

Despite strict censorship, the students aren't ready to give up their virtual social lives. For Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogspot and WordPress, the students are prepared to do what it takes to scale the Great Firewall of China.

Of nearly 50 students interviewed for this story, about 25 percent said they have stable virtual private network connections. More than 40 percent of those students, who attend universities in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Tianjin, are regular users of free proxy services online, and close to 90 percent said they have used proxy servers or virtual personal networks to access sites that are blocked in China. Most of the students were aware of the Internet censorship before they arrived in China.They asked to remain anonymous because it is illegal to access banned sites in China.

When asked which sites they know are blocked, all cited social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogspot. Pornographic sites and political opposition sites are also blocked, they said. Facebook and other social networking sites were among the students top-visited banned sites.

Foreign students said they also turn to proxy servers to access Google. The search engine giant began redirecting users in mainland China to the Hong Kong Google site in March, which slowed the entire system. Frustrated, tech-savvy students found ways to work around Google's system for users in China.

Students are also using tunneling networks to access Google Scholar and other academic services to which the Chinese government doesn't allow full access.

“I can’t even Google ‘Great Firewall of China’ without a VPN,” one exchange student at Peking University said. The student felt shocked, he said, that specific words used in search engines led to error messages.

More than half of the students interviewed said the use of proxy servers and VPNs is essential to their 'Net-surfing experience. Almost all of those students claimed to be frequent users of blog sites, vlog sites and social networking sites.

But a handful of the students said social media isn't essential to their virtual experiences.Having these sites banned allows them to save a few hours each day they would have otherwise wasted on the sites, they said. Yet even those students said they visit banned social media sites.

Some students said they don't face the same challenges as the students from the United States and other Western countries. One South Korean student at Peking University said she has never used proxy servers because Cyworld, a social networking site popular among South Korean students, is still accessible in China.

Other students use different social media programs to connect with different sets of friends.

“Although there are local versions of Facebook, YouTube and blogs, social media networks have to be used by your social circle," one American student at Peking University said. "I have Ren Ren Wang as well, but only my Chinese friends use it, I cannot keep in contact with my friends back home. Youku and Tudou are good substitutions for Youtube, but I am unable to view things that are posted by my friends or things that happen in my country. Same for blogs."