Can users from Mainland China surf through any open proxy to go around the government's censors and see what the free world sees?

I'm sure they would be spyed on but as we all know hackers have a way around everything....for a while.

it is done, but it is risky. Anyone using unauthorised internet can be jailed.
Like many of the Muslim countries are censoring the net too, but people get round it. Risky, but they do it.

I am in mainland China all the time. The internet is very slow, but you can visit just about any site you want- politics, porn, whatever. Of course I write/search in English and may not be subject to as much filtering. Of course every 7 years old kid over there is being taught English in school. China is not nearly as bad as Westerners think. I travel around where I want, when I want and talk to all kinds of people. I have been in Christian churches, Mosque's and Buddist temples, freedom of religon does't seem to be a problem either. China is getting more freedom while the USA is heading towards more government control via socialized health care etc.

They do block proxies as quickly as they can find them, but many Chinese do find ways around the security.

But they do so at their peril. If they get caught, it can mean a long jail sentence.

there is nothing "open" in china - the government listens to all international phone calls and records all in/out email........sound like any other government you know???

anyone who was smart enough could do it from anywhere.

I think the Chineese government is a little smarter than that and has some sort of filtering in place, but not being from mainland China I can only guess.

You could try using an online proxy, like beyondblocks.com