Not always. Different ISP's block different things and work/home connections also have different rules.
Once I came home to find they blocked the port to SSH & VPN. After 1 month of fighting with the IT management in the local building they opened it again.
I also run a web company in Beijing, and feel your pain. Quite simply things like google groups which help in work, and access to coding/design blogs and material/advice. It's a fucking nightmare and pisses me off to no end.
I wake up, and click through HN feeds and 30% of them don't work. Even with a proxy you have to connect which might mess with your other settings, refresh, links come in slow. Then you need to disconnect since most VPN's tunnel ALL traffic via their servers. You are also logged off MSN so any conversations go missing.