Street food, taxis, temples, vending machines — urban China runs on QR codes, and many places handle cash reluctantly. The good news: both Alipay and WeChat Pay now accept foreign cards directly. Set them up on home Wi-Fi before you fly and payment stops being a problem entirely.
The setup (do this at home)
- Download Alipay, register with your home phone number.
- Add your Visa / Mastercard / Amex / JCB under "Bank cards" and complete the identity check (passport photo) — this is the step best done on fast home Wi-Fi.
- Repeat inside WeChat → Me → Services → Wallet if you want a backup (recommended — some small vendors take only one of the two).
What it costs and where the limits are
- Transactions under ¥200 carry no foreign-card fee; above that a ~3% fee applies.
- Single-transaction and annual caps exist for foreign cards (thousands of RMB per transaction — enough for hotels; not for, say, a Rolex).
- Both apps also do scan-to-ride metro in most big cities and can call taxis (Didi runs inside Alipay).
The traps that remain
- Don't rely on one app / one card — bind a second card; occasional bank declines on the first foreign charge are common (pre-warn your bank).
- Keep ¥200-300 in cash for rural areas, small temples and the odd taxi that "can't scan today". Banks and airport ATMs dispense on foreign cards.
- Your home number must receive SMS abroad — verification codes go there. Enable international roaming for texts at minimum.