The project WallessPKU was launched by hiaoxui in 2017, and is being maintained by anonymous contributors. Sponsored by many generous organizations and individuals, it helps Chinese students to circumvent GFW. Here are hiaoxui’s answers to some questions:

  • Why did you launch WallessPKU?

The internet in China is “intranet” because GFW simply banned nearly all major foreign websites — Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, and GitHub to name a few. I learned how to build my own proxy servers when I was a student at Peking University, and I shared it on university BBS, which attracted a few hundreds of users. After posts were deleted, the project ran under the shadow. Users brought users, and we decided to make it a thing, which finally formed WallessPKU.

  • How many users does WallessPKU have? How much money do you spend every month?

Making those numers public leaves me in danger.

  • Is the service free?

Yes, it is free. There is not a payment option.

  • Why do you make it free?

Instead, I want to ask you “why pay?” As Chinese netizens, there is no law restricting your access to the internet, nor is there any document clearly stating which websites are under censorship or what the cencoring principles are there. We do not believe that a non-existent law can regulate people, and it is a basic human right to get access to legal information. You have no obligation to pay for your rights.

  • Are you wanted by the government? Are you safe?

Government: Not yet as I know. But I was “unpersoned” by Peking University with my university account being deleted. The term “WallessPKU” became sensitive, and posts mentioning it would be deleted.

Safety: I am abroad now.

  • Who is working for WallessPKU?

I did most of the coding work, including a frontend, backend, and the protocols. I feel grateful that a few contributors with advanced skills helped me to address technical problems. However, they are not willing to be listed on this page.

  • What is the technology behind WallessPKU? How does it evade the detection of GFW?

We did face blocking issues in the first a few years, and we acknowledged that popular protocols from open source project might be easily detected. We developed our own backend, using common HTTP proxy protocols but with modifications to hide its traceable traits. Our protocols are working well under the surveillance of GFW hitherto. We are planning on open-source our codebase but it takes time.

  • Who is funding WallessPKU? How to donate?

We appreciate for some sponsors who donate servers to WallessPKU, and a couple of generous people who donate us money. We also have a datacenter (Olink) that generously donate us dedicated bandwidth. The rest of cost is mostly covered by me.

We do not accept money donations in CNY. If you can donate via USD, you may use PayPal. We cannot be more grateful for your donation!

WallessPKU 由 hiaoxui 在 2017 年创建. 我 (hiaoxui) 经常被问到一些问题, 在这里做统一回答:

  • 为什么创建 WallessPKU?

因为翻墙对于几乎所有的科研人员和大部分学生都是 刚需. 很多国内无法提供的优质资源, 比如 Google Scholar, YouTube, 甚至处在被墙边缘的 GitHub, 都只能通过翻墙获取. 我自己在北京大学的时候曾经饱受折磨, 进而学会了怎么搭建自己的服务器. 因为常常与人共享, 索性公开了服务, 慢慢改进, 一直做到现在.

  • 服务是完全免费的吗?

服务器 的确 是完全免费的. 你找不到任何可以付费的渠道.

  • 为什么提供免费的服务?

我反而想问问你 “为什么要付费”. 作为中国的网民, 在支付了足额的网费之后, 没有任何一条法律限制了你访问合法的海外互联网的自由, 也没有任何文件明确规定了哪些网站被审查, 或者审查的原则/依据是什么. 你有权访问完整的互联网, 你并无义务为自己的权利付费.

  • 目前 WallessPKU 资金来源是什么?

有一些不便公开的热心用户/老板曾经捐赠了一些服务器, 它们发挥了很大的作用.

其余资金由我个人承担.

  • 可以捐赠吗?

我不方便接受人民币捐赠. 如果有美元账户, 可以通过 PayPal 向我资助. 如果您可以捐赠, 我不胜感激!

  • 是谁在维护?

是一个团队在维护.

工程部分 (代码/服务器维护) 由我个人完成. 还有很多人选购服务器, 解决技术难题, 回答用户的疑问.

因为安全问题, 暂时不能透露具体有什么人参与.