I mentioned astrill too, they do pretty well.

Vpns are working in Ningbo, Tianjin, urumqi, Chengdu, Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, xian right now, idk, I haven't seen or heard of the problems you're describing, but I'm heading back over for the new year this year, so I'll check.

I think failing to block increasing, constant vpn use around the north, South, east, West, and center of a country for a decade despite constantly declaring vpns illegal and banned and stopped by government firewalls counts as zero practical success, yes.

My sister still lives there and from what she says it's not too difficult. Some VPNs work, others are on the 'no longer work' list and at big events they mysteriously stop working.

She's not technically minded, she'll just be using an app.