Payments

Payments

In China, nearly everything runs through your phone, specifically two apps: Alipay and WeChat.

Jowl t-bone biltong

Your card alone won't get you far, direct Visa or Mastercard acceptance is limited to international hotels, major tourist restaurants, big malls and airports. Local restaurants, taxis, the metro, and convenience stores, the actual bulk of a normal day, run on Alipay or WeChat Pay only. That's the real reason to link your card inside one of those apps rather than just carrying it.

Cash or App?

From dozens of trips, we barely touch cash anymore, Alipay and WeChat cover almost everything. Cash is still legal, but many stores, especially in large cities including Shanghai, won't have change for it and in some cases are annoyed, since almost nobody carries it except at larger retailers.

Bring 200 to 500 RMB as an emergency backup, in case your phone stops working.

Alipay or Wechat

Jowl t-bone biltong, corned beef meatball shankle bacon chicken ribeye tongue

Alipay 支付宝

PRIMARY Built to be friendlier for international visitors, with a built-in translation feature, the biggest reason to lead with this one. Link your card before you travel and confirm it allows international transactions. If your card won't link, a friend with an Alipay balance can send you some, paid back in your own currency later.

  • Fee (Visa/Mastercard)
    3% over ¥200

  • UnionPay
    No fee

  • Verification Threshold
    ¥15,000 total

  • Without verification
    ¥1,000/day cap

WeChat 微信

BACKUP Built as a messaging app first, payments came later. The spending limit for international tourists runs tighter than Alipay's, and registering can require an existing user to verify or invite you. Worth having if you'll need it to message someone in China, or just as a payment backup.

How to Pay

Swine corned beef picanha, flank beef ribs buffalo meatloaf andouille chicken doner ground round pork belly.

Scan to Pay

You Display, They Scan

The merchant has a QR code, printed, taped to the counter, sitting on the table, and you open your app's Scan function and point it at that code. 

This is common at small vendors, street stalls, and a lot of individual restaurant tables. If it's a static code, the amount doesn't come pre-filled, you type it in yourself, so double check everything before confirming.

Show to Pay

They Display, You Scan

Open Alipay or WeChat Pay, it generates an unique barcode for the merchant to pay (it refreshes after a few, and the merchant scans it with their scanner or POS device. 

This is the flow at staffed checkouts, convenience stores, supermarkets, chain restaurants, transit gates. The amount is usually set by the merchant's terminal already, so there's little for you to get wrong here beyond confirming with fingerprint, Face ID, or your payment password.