Turn on VPN: WeChat messages do not send, Alipay says "network error," Meituan cannot find your location. Turn off VPN: Google disappears. This is the daily frustration of expats in China who use a VPN without split routing.

Why Chinese Apps Break on VPN

Chinese apps like WeChat, Alipay, Taobao, Didi, and Meituan are designed to work within China's internet infrastructure. When their traffic is routed through a VPN to a Singapore server:

  • Latency increases: Traffic goes China -> Singapore -> China instead of staying direct. This breaks real-time features.
  • IP mismatch: The app sees a Singapore IP but expects a Chinese IP. Location-based features fail.
  • Payment verification: Alipay and WeChat Pay verify that transactions originate from Chinese IPs. Foreign IPs trigger security checks.
  • CDN routing: Chinese apps use China-based CDNs. Routing through VPN means content is fetched from overseas servers instead of local ones, dramatically increasing load times.

What Split Routing Does

Split routing (also called split tunneling) maintains two routing paths simultaneously:

  1. Chinese traffic (WeChat, Alipay, Taobao, Baidu, Meituan, etc.) goes direct through your ISP
  2. Foreign traffic (Google, YouTube, Slack, ChatGPT, Netflix, etc.) goes through the VPN tunnel

The routing decision is made based on the destination IP. Chinese IP ranges (assigned to Chinese companies and CDNs) go direct. Everything else goes through VPN.

How KookVPN Implements Split Routing

KookVPN uses a comprehensive list of Chinese IP ranges (APNIC allocations for CN) to route traffic. When a packet's destination IP falls within a Chinese range, it is sent direct. All other traffic goes through the VLESS+Reality tunnel to Singapore.

This is configured automatically -- you do not need to manually specify which apps go where. The routing is based on IP ranges, not application names, so it works for any current or future Chinese service.

The Result

  • WeChat messages send instantly
  • Alipay payments work without security prompts
  • Didi finds your location correctly
  • Google, YouTube, and Slack work through VPN simultaneously
  • No need to toggle VPN on/off between apps

One-click, both worlds: Split routing means you never need to choose between Chinese internet and Western internet. Both work simultaneously. Connect once, everything works.

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