American-version iPhone5s unavailable in China?

After being in China for some days, I brought an iPhone on a discount, to find nothing accessible in China. I wanna install some useful apps, while the app store, as read by the screen, does not run in the Chinese market. Moreover, a VPN app from Android does not work on iPhone, either. I asked shoppers for help, only to be told no possible way to manage it.

Take the iPhone back to the US and see if it works. If it does, then it's the firewall or other restrictions on the app store. That specific VPN is probably blocked, try another one.

Welcome to communism, where they tell you what you can or can't view.