Quality Assurance Behind China’s Great Firewall
Our client is a well-established, globally recognized technology company headquartered in San Francisco, operating a prominent platform serving the academic and research community worldwide.
With hundreds of employees and a highly skilled in-house engineering team, their product enables millions of users to share research, collaborate, and access academic content globally. Given their extensive global user base, product reliability and accessibility across different regions are mission-critical for their business.
Project Scope
Despite their mature product and technical expertise, the client recognized the importance of validating their web application in complex, restricted network environments—specifically mainland China, where national internet controls significantly alter how global web applications function.
They engaged our team to execute a full-cycle testing initiative, focusing on:
· Functional and UI validation across desktop and mobile web views
· Detection of network-specific issues stemming from The Great Firewall
· Identification of resource-loading failures and third-party service disruptions
· Delivery of comprehensive, actionable insights to empower their internal engineering teams
Challenges
Even large, well-resourced engineering organizations face significant challenges when ensuring seamless user experience behind China's Great Firewall:
· Widespread Service Restrictions: Google Fonts, Google APIs, Facebook SDKs, Twitter integrations, payment gateways, and other third-party resources are routinely blocked
· Silent Failures: Apps may load partially or appear broken without clear error indicators to the end-user
· Limited Remote Visibility: Teams based outside China cannot reliably replicate the region-specific experience without in-region testing infrastructure
Our Testing Approach
1. In-Region, Real-World Testing
We conducted testing entirely from within mainland China, ensuring an authentic reflection of the user experience for Chinese-based users.
2. Full Device and Viewport Coverage
· Desktop browsers and devices
· Mobile views across popular iOS and Android platforms
· Multiple screen resolutions to reflect real-world usage
3. Structured Test Management
All test cases, results, and evidence were tracked in the client's preferred test management platform, Testmo, ensuring clear reporting and traceability.
4. Network Traffic Monitoring
We captured .HAR files to record network traffic, revealing blocked resources, failed requests, and third-party service failures.
5. Full Session Recording
All testing sessions were video-recorded to provide visual, reproducible evidence for the client's technical teams.
Key Findings
· Broken Visuals: Images hosted on blocked domains were missing
· Typography Issues: Pages using Google Fonts displayed unreadable or broken text
· Layout Breakages: Missing resources led to collapsed or misaligned UI components
· Interactive Feature Failures: JavaScript errors caused by blocked external scripts impacted key functionality
Deliverables
· A comprehensive defect report, categorized by severity
· Full test execution results documented in Testmo
· .HAR files highlighting network issues and blocked resources
· Screen recordings illustrating observed problems
· Practical recommendations for mitigating region-specific issues, including local resource hosting and alternative service integration strategies
Outcome
This testing engagement enabled the client to:
· Gain critical visibility into their product's real-world behavior inside mainland China
· Receive detailed, actionable data to support their global engineering team in implementing fixes
· Strengthen their product's reliability and accessibility for users in restrictive network environments
Why Global Companies Trust Us
We specialize in helping organizations like this leading academic platform:
· Navigate region-specific technical challenges
· Execute in-region, real-world device testing
· Provide structured, transparent reporting
· Capture comprehensive evidence for rapid debugging Deliver engineering-focused, practical recommendations
Ensure Your Product Works
Contact us to learn how our specialized testing services can help you maintain performance and accessibility, even in the most technically complex global markets.
