i can't quite believe that i'm having to route my vpn access over an ssh tunnel in order to then put HTTP proxy over the VPN in order to get frickin internet access to my email and anything at all.
the IP address of my server has been blocked *not* by the china government but by the cisco equipment where i'm currently located...
... which is in the lobby of allwinner's headquarters in zhuhai :)
well done cisco! :)