Nah they identify the protocol handshake and block it altogether, so you need to find a VPN with a proprietary protocol that keeps updating.

It’s probably a modified openvpn with some package obfuscation, but works surprisingly well.

Astrill, only VPN with a good track record in China where I happen to live.

Most others crap out after a few weeks or months, and never bother to fix their protocols.

A mix of avira and malwarebytes locally, and virustotal if I’m especially sceptical.

The app is asking for a million permissions that are completely unnecessary. They are just as much of a data kraken as facbeook, google and apple, with the exception of people being fully transparent about professional achievements and qualifications. That’s a definite reason to never give them access to my phone.

IMHO whenever you actively need something and the owner either doesn’t make it available or the price is prohibitively expensive, it’s justified. That especially includes papers, books and other tuition material that’s been paywalled or made expensive as hell without any actual reason, even more so if the author gets next to no compensation.

Downloading series and movies that aren’t being streamed anymore, by all means.

When it comes to current movies, it depends on what’s available. Unfortunately most streaming platforms don’t have Chinese subtitles, and my wife often struggles to fully follow the original audio and the English subs often disappear too quickly.

For software, my personal stance is that if you use something every once in a while, pirate away. If you use it regularly and/or generate income from it, then pay your dues.