How does the GFW contribute to slow loading times via international gateways?

Question

The Great Firewall of China (GFW) significantly impacts website loading speeds for users within China, primarily due to how it routes international internet traffic. A core mechanism contributing to this latency is the GFW's reliance on a limited number of international gateways. All data packets attempting to enter or leave China must traverse these specific points. This centralized routing inherently introduces additional hops and processing delays, commonly referred to as latency, for every user request originating from or destined for outside the country.

Accepted Answer

This bottleneck effect is exacerbated by the sheer volume of internet users in China, estimated to be around 900 million as of early 2021. When a substantial portion of this user base attempts to access foreign websites, the traffic is funneled through these few international gateways. Consequently, these gateways become points of congestion, much like a narrow bridge experiencing heavy traffic. Each request, whether it's to load an image, a script, or a piece of text, must pass through this constrained pathway, adding measurable time to the overall loading process. This is a fundamental architectural characteristic of the GFW that directly contributes to the sluggish performance experienced by many non-Chinese websites within China.

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How does the GFW contribute to slow loading times via international gateways?

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