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If you intend to travel to China for business or leisure, you need to ensure that you are prepared, especially in the area of finance and technology. China works differently from the rest of the world in those respects. Things that you are familiar with back home and taken for granted (e.g. Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp) are not available in China. You do not want to be caught unprepared and have your trip ruined with inconvenience.

So, in this article, I will give you some preparation tips.

Financial Preparation

China is largely a cashless society. Although shops in China are legally obliged to accept cash as payment, no one uses cash anymore. In the West, we have also become a cashless society as credit and debit cards replace cash more and more. But we still carry our wallet that stores all our cards.

However, in China, they go even further. The wallet has become an anachronistic relic. Nobody carries a wallet anymore in China.

The big problem for foreigners is that familiar card payment systems like Visa, Mastercard, Diner’s Club, Maestro, American Express, and so on, are not widely accepted in China. Only some big hotels and retailers that cater to tourists may still accept them. Your Visa and Mastercard are mostly useless in China.

Worse still, even China’s card payment system, Union Pay, is not in widespread use too.

Not all shops accept Union Pay. Worse still, I have seen staff in shops that are supposed to accept Union Pay cards fumble with operating the card payment machines because they have not received card payments for a long time!

Alipay and WeChat

So, the question is, what are the Chinese using in place of cards?

In China, the smartphone has replaced the wallet. Specifically, the Alipay and WeChat apps are your wallet. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay mostly do not work in China.

Take note of the brand symbols of Alipay and WeChat below:

You will need to recognize the brand symbols to know which app is accepted for payment.

What are Alipay and WeChat?

Both of them are super apps. You can think of them as super platforms where mini-programs run on top of them. They do everything, from payment, ordering food, ride-sharing, financial services, dating, museum reservations, and so on. WeChat has a social media and messaging component, like Facebook and Instagram combined.

Setting up Alipay and WeChat

Your first step is to install these two apps before you go to China.

Your mobile phone number is the account ID of these two apps. You do not need to create a password for your account, but it is recommended that you do so.

You do not need to verify your identity to use their payment services, but there will be a limit to how much you can spend. For AliPay, the limit was 10,000 yuan the last time I checked. The limit is subject to change. If you intend to visit China for only a few days, you may stay below the limit. But for longer trips, you will likely exceed the limit. Certainly, you do not want to have your payment denied in the retail store at the most inconvenient time because you have reached the limit.

To verify your identity, you have to use the app to take a photo of your ID document (for foreigners, this will be your passport). You will most likely be prompted to verify your identity when you first set up your account. If not, there are lots of YouTube videos showing you how to do that.

Connecting your debit/credit card to Alipay and WeChat

Next, you need to connect your credit or debit card to your Alipay and WeChat accounts. You can use your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner’s Club, Union Pay and so on.

I have heard stories that for foreigners, paying at the retail store may fail from time to time because they do not have a Chinese bank card connected to their Alipay/WeChat account. This is probably due to some technical reasons. As for me, I have not experienced any problems at all. Both Alipay and WeChat pay work for me all the time. So, what did I do?

A better way: connecting Alipay/WeChat to Wise

For me, I created a Wise account. Wise is a financial service that allows you to send and receive money globally. It can store and convert your money to different currencies, including the Chinese yuan. Since Wise provides financial services, you will need to verify your identity with Wise too.

After setting up my Wise account, I sent Australian dollars from my Australian bank account to my Wise account. The quickest way to do that is to transfer the money to a PayID email address provided by Wise. Using PayID, the money arrives at my Wise account almost instantaneously.

Next, at the Wise app, I created a digital Visa debit card that is connected to my Wise account. Then I used the details of this digital Visa debit card to connect it to both my Alipay and WeChat accounts.

Payment passwords

After you connect your Wise digital debit card to your Alipay/WeChat account, you will be prompted to set up a 6-digit payment password. The payment password is separate from the account password that you may have set up.

NEVER EVER FORGET YOUR PAYMENT PASSWORD!

This password is needed to authorize payments to merchants. If you forget your payment password, you simply cannot pay.

How will your Alipay/WeChat work in China?

Whenever you pay with Alipay or WeChat in China, you will get notifications from 2 different apps:

• First, the Alipay or WeChat app will send you a notification to inform you about the financial transaction in yuan.
• Then your Wise app will send you a notification to inform you of the corresponding transaction in your Wise account.

Wise will automatically convert the transaction amount from yuan to your domestic currency and deduct it from your Wise account accordingly. In your Wise app, you will see all your yuan transactions in terms of your domestic currency.

There is no need to top up your Alipay or WeChat account with a balance in yuan. The currency conversion and deduction in your domestic currency from your Wise account will be done automatically on the fly. If you run out of domestic currency in your Wise account, you can always use your Internet banking app to transfer more cash into your Wise account.

How to pay in Alipay/WeChat?

Take a look at the screenshots for both Alipay (left) and WeChat (right):

For both of them, there are at least 2 methods to pay.

1. You can scan the merchant’s QR code– This method is used if the merchant does not have a QR code scanner. In your Alipay/WeChat app
   1. You scan the merchant’s Alipay/WeChat QR code (usually printed on a piece of paper). In the WeChat app, tap on the ‘+’ icon at the top right and select “Scan”. In the Alipay app, tap on the “Scan” icon near the top.
   2. Enter the amount to pay.
   3. When prompted, enter your payment password.
2. The merchant scans your QR code– In your Alipay/WeChat app,
   1. You display your account’s QR code and the merchant scans it. In the WeChat app, tap on the ‘+’ icon at the top right and select “Money”. In the Alipay app, tap on the “Pay/Receive” icon near the top. CAUTION: Do not expose your QR code to anyone else other than the merchant. Funds can be stolen from your account if dodgy people scan your QR code.
   2. You do NOT need to enter the payment amount and your payment password. The payment happens automatically.

A typical Alipay/WeChat QR code scanner at a retail store can look like this:

For the Alipay app, there is a third method to pay: contactless NFC payment. All you need to do is to unlock your phone and tap it on top of this NFC reader (at the right):

For those who use Apple Pay and Google Pay, this payment method will be familiar.

Once payment has gone through, the merchant will hear an announcement from the app informing him/her of the amount of payment that has arrived in his/her account. This is how the merchant knows that you have paid.

Technology Preparation

All these wonders of payment technology require your phone to have a working Internet connection. Therefore, you need to ensure that after you land in China, your phone can access the Internet.

Most telecommunications providers can provide you with Internet data roaming services for your phone to access the Internet when you are overseas. But they tend to be very expensive. The cheapest alternative is to buy a local SIM (or eSIM) at the airport after you land in China to connect your phone to the Internet via the local Chinese telecommunications providers.

Great Firewall of China (GFWC)

However, the biggest problem with Chinese Internet service providers (which include the telecommunications providers and hotel WiFis), is that they are placed behind the GFWC. Behind the GFWC, you will not be able to access big global platforms like YouTube, Gmail, Google, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn (the social media function of LinkedIn is blocked in China), and so on. Also, many other websites from your home country are blocked too.

If you rely on these services and websites for your business, news source, and communication, you will have a big problem.

Major VPN services are blocked too

If you think that VPN service providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN can solve this problem by helping you bypass the GFWC, you will be disappointed to learn that they are blocked in China too. That is, NordVPN and ExpressVPN will not work with Chinese ISPs.

Data roaming eSIM

Fortunately, China recognizes the problem their GFWC poses for foreigners. So, they provide data roaming eSIM services for foreigners who need Internet access outside their GFWC. You can use your favorite VPN service (e.g. NordVPN, ExpressVPN) with their data roaming eSIM service.

To purchase this service, go to the eSIM mini-program through the Alipay app (see screenshot above). Unfortunately, while that service is extremely cheap (under AUD 5 per day for a daily 100 GB limit), the speed is extremely slow (10 Mbps or below). This will be a big problem for those with multiple devices or sharing their Internet connection with multiple people. It was so slow for me that my Internet became unusable.

To get around this problem, I recommend Saily. I used them when I was in China and can attest that they provide great performance.

Saily provides global data roaming services at affordable prices when you are overseas. Your phone needs to be able to have the eSIM feature to use Saily. This global data roaming eSIM service will allow your phone to access the Internet while you are in China as if you are in your home country (i.e. without the GFWC). This is very useful if you want to watch Australia’s TV streaming services (e.g. ABC iView) while in China because they (the Australian TV streaming services) block their services from visitors outside Australia.

The reasons why I prefer Saily over the other services are the security features:

• Combination of global data roaming service and a VPN (for privacy and security). Saily is owned by NordVPN. According to Saily,

The virtual location option will allow users to change from where they appear to be browsing and hide their true location from the websites visited. By choosing their home location, users will also be able to browse the internet as if they were back home, with access to familiar websites in their own language. When enabled, virtual location will additionally route the user’s traffic through one of NordVPN’s servers, changing their IP address and virtual location.

• Ad-blocking. You can turn on this optional feature to block ads from appearing on your web browser.
• Malicious website blocking. You can turn on this optional feature to block potentially malicious and phishing websites.

Using Saily, you do not have to worry about your privacy security and privacy because all your Internet traffic is routed through Saily’s NordVPN service.

Your DiDi ride-sharing app will not work in China!

In your phone, you may already have downloaded the DiDi ride-sharing app. But do you know that this DiDi app will not work with the DiDi service in China? The DiDi app that you downloaded from your country’s app store is meant to work for specific countries that do NOT include China.

So how do you use DiDi in China?

You can use the DiDi mini-program within Alipay and WeChat. As you can see from the Alipay screenshot above, there is a DiDi mini-program. You use that DiDi mini-program when you are in China.

Scanning QR codes in restaurants

In China, the waiters do not come to you to take orders. You will most likely be asked to scan the QR code on the table to order and pay for your food on your phone. After that, then the waiter will serve the food to your table.

There are two potential pitfalls for the uninitiated foreigner:

• Do not scan the QR code with your camera app. Instead, use either the Alipay or WeChat app to scan the QR code.
• You may see multiple QR codes on the table. Some of them are just advertisements. Scan the QR code for your table. It may look something like this:

In the above example, you can see that this QR code is for table 10-1. After scanning the QR code with the Alipay or WeChat app, the restaurant’s mini-program will launch. This is where you make and pay for your order.

I hope this article will be very helpful for you in preparing for your next trip to China. Enjoy your stay in China!

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