Q&A: A primer for those navigating China's version and the one used abroad

BEIJING - The Chinese-controlled internet is already a world apart from that used by the rest of the globe, split by censorship that blocks users in China from accessing many of the apps and websites used daily in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Now those separate worlds may split even further, as the trade and tech war escalates, supply chains "decouple," and distrust between the U.S. and China grows.

Staff writer Alice Su in the Los Angeles Times' Beijing bureau and Los Angeles-based columnist Frank Shyong, who previously covered the San Gabriel Valley and the Chinese community in Southern California, discuss what it's like to live and work between the two worlds.

Q: What is the internet like in China? What does bifurcation look like?

Alice Su: You can't access most things from China. You need to use a virtual private network, or VPN, to open Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter; the same goes for apps. Recently we bought a Chinese phone to use as a burner; it can't download Western apps.

It was a big deal this month when