Can you use FaceTime to make calls from china to the US?

[Ally]

I am going to china in little over a month and am trying to figure out the best way to contact family members back home to let them know I got there and such. Will FaceTime work in China?

[Kelvin]

Well i haven't used FaceTime but what i do use is the QQ international message service. It kind of like China version of Facebook here, (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube is banned here). It also has a sort of AIM message box. There you can send text, phone calls, or video chat with friends and family back home. Also if the other person isn't online you can post and leave text and video messages. I'm computer illiterate in a way and it's a fairly simple interface to use. Your biggest trouble will be coordinating times with friends and family back home. China is about 12 hours ahead of US time (thankfully the whole country doesn't believe in Time zones and all of China is 1 TZ). Have your family sign up and create an account as well as make one for yourself. They also have a mobile app for your telephone that alerts you to messages. Only problem is that most of the instructions are still in Mandarin. Also now and then you'll get random friend request from Chinese people looking to work on their english