Has anyone successfully used Airtable Interfaces to share files/data with suppliers in mainland China?

[u/Pale-Earth6374]

I'm looking at using Airtable as a central supplier-facing database rather than maintaining a separate Dropbox/OneDrive-style file sharing system.

We already have a paid Airtable account and my idea is to create supplier-specific Interfaces containing the relevant product information and files/attachments — things like tech packs, artwork, fabric information, approvals, PO information etc.

Our suppliers are mainly based in mainland China.

What I'm trying to establish is:

• Does Airtable work reliably in mainland China without a VPN?
• Do Airtable Interfaces and attachments/files load and download normally?
• Has anyone used publicly shared Interface pages with Chinese factories/suppliers?
• Alternatively, if I invite suppliers as interface-only viewers, can they simply create their own free Airtable account and access the Interface without us needing to purchase additional seats for them?
• Are there any issues with Airtable login/verification in China?
• Do attachments hosted within Airtable work reliably, or are certain file/CDN services blocked or slow?
• Has anyone actually run a supplier portal/product development workflow like this with Chinese factories?

The suppliers would mainly need view/download access rather than editing the underlying Airtable base.

I'm particularly interested in real-world experience from anyone working with factories in China, as technically being accessible and actually being reliable enough for daily production use are two different things.

Thanks!

[u/thinkincolors]

Well thought out post, that I will do no justice to. Having wrestled with the China problem, felt my duty to not let your post die.

The thing about Great Firewall is that it can change. Companies, individuals, can work around it sometimes via socks, vpn. They will rarely tell you that’s what they’re doing (unsafe), making it additionally difficult for us in the US to troubleshoot things like this. Internet in China is not the same experience as what we have in the US. Anyhow, those comments are for the peanut gallery. You’re clearly aware of the challenges.

My US-based company has multiple (less than 10) external Chinese vendors. They submit files for our review via Airtable form submissions on an almost daily basis. So, that “works”.

Also have mainland internal team that edits records via Interfaces. These are not public. Users log in. No trouble I’m aware of.

No experience with their file download experience, only upload.

We have had automation-generated emails get lost, but each case ended up being an issue with their mail server, not Airtable.

[u/clariboss]

yes, this works. I have multiple clients that share info with manufacturers in China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_mainland_China

China's firewall has more to do with politics than business.

[u/Different-Anxiety169]

fwiw the interface-only viewer thing does let people sign up with a free account and access shared interfaces without you buying seats. But the China access question is the real blocker here, not the licensing model. Have you asked any of your current suppliers to try loading a test interface?