Claude Opus 4.7 Is Here: The Most Powerful AI Model Yet, But How Do You Use It from China?

Yesterday (4/16), Anthropic dropped a bombshell.

Claude Opus 4.7 is officially out, replacing 4.6 as Anthropic's most powerful public model. The news spread fast — GitHub Blog, 9to5Mac, Axios, 36kr, SegmentFault all covered it, and #ClaudeOpus exploded on X.

As someone who uses Claude to write code every day, I tested it the moment it dropped.

Bottom line: this upgrade is the real deal. Not one of those version-number bumps dressed up as a revolution — this is a genuine leap in capability.

But if you're in mainland China — sorry, none of this matters to you just yet.

Don't worry, I'll get to the workaround. First, let's look at what makes Opus 4.7 so impressive.

The 5 Big Upgrades in Opus 4.7: Quick Rundown

1. Coding Performance +13%

That's a benchmark figure, not something I made up.

13% might not sound like a lot, but in the AI world, every single percentage point takes a massive amount of compute to achieve. In practice, Claude is noticeably more stable when handling complex logic, multi-file refactors, and long debugging chains. The old issue of "losing track of context halfway through" happens a lot less now.

For developers, this is probably the most tangible improvement. GitHub Copilot has already integrated Opus 4.7 — if you're a Copilot user, you can switch to it right now.

2. Visual Capabilities: 3x Improvement

This upgrade is borderline absurd.

Resolution jumped from 768px to 2576px, supporting up to 3.75 megapixels, with visual accuracy hitting 98.5%.

In plain English: before, if you fed Claude a screenshot, it might misread small text. Now you can throw in a full 4K screenshot and it can read practically every character.

This is a huge deal for anyone in UI design, document analysis, or chart interpretation. A lot of people used to say Claude's vision was worse than GPT-4o — time to reassess.

3. New xhigh Reasoning Tier

Anthropic added an xhigh level to the reasoning system.

Previously, Claude had low, medium, and high reasoning tiers. Now there's xhigh — basically letting the model spend more time "thinking" in exchange for more precise answers.

Paired with another new feature, Task Budgets for Agentic Loops, you can set a token budget for an Agent and let it autonomously plan its reasoning depth within that budget. This is incredibly useful for developers running automation tasks — no more worrying about an Agent spiraling into an infinite loop and burning through your credits.

4. New Tokenizer: Same Text, 1.0-1.35x More Tokens

This one's more technical, but it affects your wallet.

Opus 4.7 uses a new tokenizer. The upside: the model understands text at a finer granularity. The downside: the same input produces 0-35% more tokens than with 4.6.

API pricing itself hasn't changed — still $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens, same as 4.6. But since the same text gets split into more tokens, your actual cost goes up slightly.

The context window stays at 1M tokens (one million), and long-context retrieval has been completely overhauled. Anthropic says needle-in-a-haystack performance improved significantly, though they didn't publish exact numbers.

5. Easter Egg: Mythos — The Model Too Powerful to Release

This might be the most interesting part of the entire announcement.

Alongside Opus 4.7, Anthropic "accidentally" revealed an internal model called Mythos, part of a project codenamed Project Glasswing.

According to Anthropic, Mythos is more powerful than Opus 4.7 — but they've decided not to release it publicly due to safety concerns.

This sparked massive discussion in the AI community. Some think Anthropic is deliberately creating hype ("we have something stronger but you can't have it"). Others see it as consistent with their longstanding AI safety stance.

Either way, a company willingly sitting on a more powerful product is genuinely rare in tech. Can you imagine Apple saying "we built a phone better than the iPhone but decided it's too dangerous to sell"?

Hold On — You're in Mainland China?

Alright, I just spent a lot of words on how amazing Opus 4.7 is, but if you're currently in mainland China and open claude.ai, what do you see?

Absolutely nothing. Not even a loading spinner. It just won't open.

Claude is completely blocked in mainland China by the GFW (Great Firewall). Not "kind of slow," not "works sometimes" — completely inaccessible. The website, app, and API endpoints are all blocked.

Double Lockout: GFW + Anthropic Export Controls

The situation in 2026 is tougher than ever.

Layer 1: GFW block. This one's self-explanatory. claude.ai and Anthropic's API endpoint (api.anthropic.com) have their DNS poisoned and IPs blocked in mainland China. Same treatment as Google, YouTube, and Twitter.

Layer 2: Anthropic's own export controls. Starting March 2026, Anthropic strengthened compliance enforcement, explicitly prohibiting "China-controlled entities" from using Claude services. This goes beyond IP blocking — they actively detect and ban accounts suspected of originating from China, including developers using Claude Code.

So even if you get past the GFW, your account could still get flagged for risky behavior (frequent IP switching, registration with a Chinese phone number, unusual payment details).

Put simply: the GFW won't let you connect, and Anthropic won't let you in. A two-front siege.

3 Ways to Use Claude Opus 4.7 from Mainland China

If you've read this far, you're clearly looking for solutions. Here are three approaches, ranked from most reliable to most hassle-free.

Method 1: VPN (Most Stable, Recommended)

The most straightforward option: use a VPN to get past the firewall, then use claude.ai or the Claude API normally.

Pros: - Full experience with no feature restrictions - Works for the web app, Claude Code, API — everything - One VPN covers all blocked services (Google, YouTube, ChatGPT — all included)

Cons: - You need a reliable VPN (cheap ones won't cut it — the GFW will block them) - Account management requires care to avoid triggering Anthropic's risk detection

Tips: - Use Japan or Singapore nodes for low latency and good stability - Don't hop between node countries frequently — that gets you flagged - Register your Claude account with an overseas phone number or Google account - Pay for subscriptions with an overseas credit card (Taiwan Visa/MasterCard works)

For detailed VPN recommendations, check out: 2026 China VPN Recommendations

Method 2: API Proxy Services

If you're mainly a developer who needs Claude API access for your applications, API proxies are an option.

The idea: someone sets up a proxy server overseas, your API requests go to the proxy first, then get forwarded to Anthropic.

Pros: - No VPN needed — works directly from mainland China's network - Easy integration for developers — just change one base URL

Cons: - Reliability and security of proxy services vary wildly - Your API key and request content pass through a third party — privacy risk - Most proxy services charge a 30-100% markup - They could get shut down or disappear at any time

My advice: Fine for testing. For production, you're better off using a VPN and connecting to the official API directly.

Method 3: Domestic AI Alternatives

If you don't strictly need Claude, China's domestic AI models have actually gotten pretty good.

Honest take: For pure Chinese-language tasks, DeepSeek and Kimi are already very capable. But if you need English proficiency, complex reasoning, or advanced features like Coding Agents, Claude Opus 4.7 still has no substitute.

Especially the new xhigh reasoning tier and Agent task budgets — domestic models won't be catching up to those anytime soon.

(Quick plug time)

Alright, since we're talking about needing a VPN to use Claude, I'd be remiss not to mention this.

Sunset Browser is a tool we built ourselves. Open the app, tap connect, done. No configuration, no fiddling with protocols, no headaches. It's specifically optimized for China's network environment, so connection stability is significantly better than typical VPNs.

On iOS, just search "Sunset" in the App Store. Works great for Claude, ChatGPT, Google — all of it.

Alright, plug over. Back to business.

Mythos: The Model Anthropic Won't Release

The Mythos model I mentioned earlier deserves a deeper look.

Anthropic has always been the loudest voice in AI safety. Their founder Dario Amodei left OpenAI specifically over disagreements about safety. So when Anthropic says "we have a more powerful model but aren't releasing it for safety reasons," that's consistent with everything they've stood for.

But exactly how Mythos is "more powerful" or "dangerous" — Anthropic hasn't said much. What we know so far:

• Part of Project Glasswing
• More capable than Opus 4.7
• Internally assessed as "not yet meeting safety standards for public release"
• May eventually be released once safety measures are in place

This raises a bigger question: Should AI companies unilaterally decide which models are "too dangerous" to release?

Some see it as responsible behavior. Others see it as "capability hoarding" — I'm stronger than you but I won't let you use it, leveraging that asymmetry to maintain competitive advantage.

Whatever your view, this debate is only going to intensify in 2026.

FAQ

Q: What's the API pricing for Opus 4.7?

$5 per 1M input tokens, $25 per 1M output tokens — same as 4.6. But note that the new tokenizer increases token counts for the same content by 0-35%, so actual costs will be slightly higher.

Q: Can my account get banned if I use Claude from China with a VPN?

There's a risk, but you can minimize it. The key: don't frequently switch IP countries, use a stable VPN node, and avoid registering with a Chinese phone number. See the full guide to using Claude with a VPN for details.

Q: Is it illegal to use a VPN to access Claude?

This is complicated — see our dedicated article on Is using a VPN illegal in China?. Short answer: personal use of VPN tools currently falls in a legal gray area in terms of enforcement, but the risk is increasing.

Q: What if my VPN won't connect?

If your VPN suddenly stops working, don't panic. Check out 5 ways to fix VPN connection issues. Usually it's because the GFW just blocked a batch of nodes — switch to a different node or wait a few hours.

Q: What's the latest GFW blocking situation in 2026?

We track this continuously. The latest updates are in our 2026 Q2 GFW Update.

Q: Can DeepSeek really replace Claude?

Depends on your needs. For Chinese-language conversations, document summaries, and basic coding — DeepSeek is more than adequate. But for complex multi-step reasoning, large codebase refactoring, or Agent automation workflows, Claude still has a clear lead.

Conclusion

Claude Opus 4.7 is genuinely one of the most powerful public AI models available right now. Coding +13%, vision 3x better, a new reasoning tier, Agent task budgets — every single upgrade is substantive. Add in the Mythos "too powerful to release" easter egg, and Anthropic went all in on buzz this round.

But for users in mainland China, even the most powerful model is useless if you can't access it. Under the double lockout of the GFW and export controls, a VPN is essentially the only way to get the full experience.

If you're a developer who wants to try Opus 4.7's new features right away, make sure you have a stable VPN ready, then dive in through the official API or Claude Code.

If you'd rather not deal with the hassle, domestic options like DeepSeek and Kimi are solid choices — they can't quite reach Opus 4.7's ceiling yet, but they're more than enough for everyday use.

The AI arms race keeps accelerating. Will the next bombshell be GPT-5, Gemini 3, or Anthropic finally unleashing Mythos?

Stay tuned.