iPad constantly trying to contact China IP address.

Your iPad will be resolving IP addresses using DNS - and within China, the DNS servers that determine the resources to which you connect will themselves be located in China.

While not guaranteed to resolve your immediate issue (as transparent proxies can still intercept and redirect traffic), you might consider manually setting your preferred DNS servers in preference to Automatic server selection. As a starting point, I suggest manually configuring one of the following DNS services:

Quad9 (recommended)

9.9.9.9

149.112.112.112

2620:fe::fe

2620:fe::9

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

2620:119:35::35

2620:119:53::53

Cloudflare

1.1.1.1

1.0.0.1

2606:4700:4700::1111

2606:4700:4700::1001

To configure DNS for your network connection:

Settings > WiFi > [Your WiFi SSID] - tap the “i” icon - then Configure DNS > Manual - replace the listed DNS servers*

(*) Enter all four addresses for the chosen service, one server address on each line (the sequence isn’t critical); delete any other server addresses from the list.

You should note that DNS settings are configured individually for each network connection - each WiFi network to which you may connect having its own network/DNS connection settings.

There are advanced techniques that may help, such as using to DoH or DoT with DNS; while fully and effectively supported by iOS/iPadOS, Apple doesn’t expose this capability via device settings - but there are easy ways to access this functionality. An easy way to set and manage DoH/DoT settings is to use a third-party utility App - DNSecure:

https://apps.apple.com/app/dnsecure/id1533413232

This App does exactly what is needed to effectively configure DoH/DoT - and is free to download and install. Many DNS providers are already preconfigured - including Quad9 and Cloudflare. Additional secure DNS providers can be added if required.

I’m in China visiting. Even with a vpn, no access to anything