China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) starts tightening its control on internet access market from today till 31 March 2018. Setting-up or leasing VPN is not allowed unless approved by MIIT.
MIIT will investigate IDC, ISP, and CDN services in China and punish companies with unapproved connections.
In addition to regular internet users, currently many MNCs and foreign trade enterprises depend on VPN services to access certain websites. Even the United States Consulate in Shanghai sought VPN suppliers on Weibo in August 2016:
The ban on unauthorized VPN services is likely to close down many small providers though it is hard to be effective on all, especially for paid commercial VPNs as it’s also easy to get around the blocked access. You may find this thread on Quora useful.