[Solved]Problem connecting to some Chinese websites from Fremont, CA

Hi,

I set up OpenVPN in Debian 9 on a CA server, but I couldn't connect to some Chinese websites from Canada via this VPN connection, such as:

baidu.com, and many of its subdomains such as maps.baidu.com;

http://www.douban.com;

jd.com and many of its subdomains;

etc.

However, any websites outside of China can be visited just fine. I can also connect to some other Chinese websites, just not all of them.

Troubleshooting:

1. iptable was flushed, and the problem remained.

2. I thought perhaps I mis-configured OpenVPN, so I installed Shadowsocks-libev (another type of VPN), and the problem was the same;

3. To remove VPN from the equation, I rebuilt Debian 9, only installed links ( a terminal web browser) so I could try connecting from the Linode server directly, and links couldn't visit those websites either (as it would be "making connection" forever).

4. Perhaps it was Debian, so I set up Arch and Centos with links only, and it still couldn't connect.

5. Perhaps it was links, so I tried lynx, and still the same.

6. Then I set up another Linode (JP2) with Debian 8, and everything was fine: I could visit all those websites in China.

I know it might have something to do with China's GFW, but is this a known issue with Linode CA servers?

P.S.

Edit: MTR reports show packets were lost at the last hop.

root@debian:~# mtr -rw baidu.com
Start: Sun Jun 18 20:56:55 2017
HOST: debian                        Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- 23.92.24.2                     0.0%    10    0.6   0.7   0.6   0.9   0.0
  2.|-- 173.230.159.14                 0.0%    10    0.9   0.9   0.8   1.1   0.0
  3.|-- 173.230.159.8                  0.0%    10    0.8   0.8   0.8   0.9   0.0
  4.|-- ae9.cr0-sjc2.ip4.gtt.net       0.0%    10   15.0   2.7   1.3  15.0   4.3
  5.|-- xe-1-3-3.cr4-sjc1.ip4.gtt.net  0.0%    10    1.6   5.4   1.6  36.4  10.9
  6.|-- as4134.sjc10.ip4.gtt.net       0.0%    10    5.8   3.9   2.2   5.8   0.9
  7.|-- 202.97.50.53                   0.0%    10    3.1   3.7   2.2   5.3   0.8
  8.|-- 202.97.52.145                  0.0%    10  166.0 167.1 165.2 169.0   1.0
  9.|-- 202.97.58.109                  0.0%    10  163.9 165.1 163.9 166.4   0.6
 10.|-- ???                           100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0

root@debian:~# mtr --report www.douban.com
Start: Sun Jun 18 20:54:05 2017
HOST: debian                      Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- 23.92.24.3                 0.0%    10    0.7   0.8   0.6   1.5   0.0
  2.|-- 173.230.159.12             0.0%    10    0.8   0.9   0.7   1.5   0.0
  3.|-- ae9.cr0-sjc2.ip4.gtt.net   0.0%    10    1.4   4.5   1.3  26.4   7.9
  4.|-- xe-2-1-2.cr4-sjc1.ip4.gtt  0.0%    10    1.8   1.7   1.6   2.6   0.0
  5.|-- 218.30.54.69               0.0%    10    6.3   4.7   3.1   6.3   0.9
  6.|-- 202.97.50.69               0.0%    10    5.1   5.5   2.2   9.2   2.1
  7.|-- 202.97.52.185              0.0%    10  188.3 160.9 151.6 188.3  11.5
  8.|-- 202.97.85.61               0.0%    10  181.8 156.4 151.1 181.8   9.7
  9.|-- ???                       100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0