It uses IPSEC, so depending on the Chinese authorities, maybe or maybe not. Keep in mind it's the same protocol that is used by foreigners to VPN back into their offices, so if they're willing to annoy them, it probably won't work.
What if they ban Digital Ocean etc.? I won't even be able to setup the VPN, right?
Correct. You could always use your own server from another provider, or use Azure/GCP/AWS instead, but nothing prevents them from blocking IPSEC to common cloud/web hosting providers.