In many Chinese hotels, trying to connect to a VPN results in your WiFi disconnecting. An international data roaming sim card package of xGb for x$ is often your best bet for things like Gmail but gets expensive for watching YouTube.
The Great Firewall of China is pretty tight, I have a theory that they subscribe to every VPN service available and monitor how they connect outside China so they can block them. Reports indicate that even emails and attachments are scanned for sensitive content. Don't even bother trying to search for "Tiananmen Square massacre"