Cashless Payment in China for Tourists

China ubiquitous payment options, Weixin Pay and Alipay, has opened up to foreigner tourists and you no longer need to be a resident in China, have a local bank account, and a local mobile number before you can use the Apps to pay for stuff in China!

We visit China every year and here is our guide to paying for everything using WeChat Pay (aka Weixin Pay), Alipay (not AlipayHK) and our Alipay+.

Can We Still Use Cash In China?

Short answer , Yes! Cash is still legal tender and merchants are not allowed to reject cash payments. BUT some vendors may not have change if you are using big notes (biggest note is CNY100), even though we didn’t encounter any vendor who didn’t have the right change. We suspect this might be challenging for smaller vendors or food stalls. Add to the myriad of apps that reside in these “Super Apps” that don’t accept cash payment, ordering bubble tea or hailing a ride on DiDi is gonna need us to go cashless. Almost all F&B uses QR code to place orders.

Nonetheless, it is sensible to carry CNY (yuan) cash at hand. We experienced some cases where cashless payments didn’t go through and we needed to use cash.

Can We Avoid Using these WeChat and Alipay?

These Apps are not necessary if you can live with the inconvenience.

We have used both for metro and bus transport, and it worked without a glitch. We had to completed an online registration with our passport details before use, and it was approved immediately.

Without these Apps, you could buy single tickets at the ticket vending machine, and will need exact change when taking the bus. As mentioned, getting back exact change might be a challenge for small vendors. Most food stalls allow us to order by scanning a QR code using either WeChat or Alipay. You cannot access them using a normal web browser or your own QR code scanner.

These conveniences add up to a much better travel experience, and we planned to delete as much of our details as possible from these platforms before uninstalling the Apps when we return home.

Using Super Apps, other Apps can be accessed as “Mini Programs” (hence the term Super App). Popular apps like Didi, Taobao, Metro, Hotels, F&B apps are all access from the main page of these apps or via a QR code scan. You can also add any Mini Program shortcuts to your homescreen.

How to Set Up WeChat and Alipay Before Your China Trip

1. Make sure to download both WeChat and Alipay, and add your credit cards at least a day before you leave your country. You will need access to your mobile number for SMS OTP to create an account and add your credit card. Do do not need a Chinese mobile number to create an account.

2. The Apps will require you to upload a copy of your Passport for ID verification, and may take at least a day to be approved. We chose Alipay as our primary mode as we used it with TMall payments previously. We encourage downloading WeChat as a backup, in case Alipay isn’t working. You can also use WeChat to call or message locals if you aren’t using the payment feature.

3. Not all credit cards are accepted. Both Apps accept Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, and Discover. It seems only Weixin Pay accepts JCB? Even though there are reports of linked cards not working, both our Mastercard and our Wise virtual Visa debit card worked well. In Alipay, there was no way to set default payment card, and our transport payment got deducted from our MasterCard and there was no way for us to change the default. So it is probably best to add only one credit card.

4. Once the cards are added, you can scan the merchant’s QR code using using the “Scan” function for payment. In some instances, merchants scan your app’s QR code via “Pay/Receive” for payment.

5. You will need internet access to use the Apps for payment. So make sure you have a decent eSIM with data for your trip.

Note: Each of the Apps took up almost 1GB of space (including app, user and cache data) in our phones. User data alone was almost 500MB and we have no idea why so much storage was needed. So make sure there is sufficient storage on your phone before you install.

Add Your Credit/Debit Card to Weixin Pay and Alipay

There are English language options in both Apps, but some pages might be served in Chinese, causing some confusion. Here is how you can setup and add your credit card in WeChat.

Here is a link to setting up Alipay for use in Mainland China.

Both Apps will ask you to set a 6-digit payment PIN that they may ask for when making payments.

The spending limits on Weixin Pay and Alipay are:

• CNY 6,500 per single transaction (~$908)

• CNY 50,000 (cumulative) per month (~S$6,990)

• CNY 65,000 (cumulative) per year (~S$9,087)

It is possible to increase single transaction limits to $5,000 and annual limits to $50,000 by going through an ID verification process.

For Weixin Pay and Alipay, transaction fees are waived for payments of CNY 200 (~$28) or less, and transactions above CNY 200 will have a 3% fee. Exchange rates are based on the rates of your credit card and issuing bank.

How to Avoid Paying 3% transaction fee and other fees when using WeChat Pay and Alipay

From June 2025, international bank card users who link their cards to WeChat Pay for the first time are eligible for a full waiver of the 3% transaction fee on daily transactions under CNY 1,000 for 60 consecutive days starting from their first transactions, with a maximum saving of CNY 30 per transaction.

The 3% fee charged by WeChat and Alipay are on top of you credit card and bank fees. This all adds up to quite a considerable amount of money in just fees. There are a couple of ways we use to avoid paying the 3% transaction fee:

1. Ask the merchant to split the payments into transactions of maximum CNY 200. For example, if the item is CNY 400, ask if you can pay in 2 transactions of CNY 200 each. Many merchants are happy to oblige if it is not too much hassle. Here is a request in Chinese you can show to the merchant:

   我可以分成几笔不超过200元的交易吗？我是游客，超过200元的交易需要额外收费。谢谢。

2. Use Cash to bring the amount down to CNY 200 before using WeChat Pay or Alipay. This also allows us to expend the backup cash we have.

   我可以用现金支付部分账单，然后用微信支付剩余部分吗？谢谢。

Your bank’s foreign currency transaction fees (up to 3.5%) and card network fees (up to 2%) also adds to your travelling costs when using WeChat Pay and Alipay. We use Wise and Revolut extensively for our travels for lower fees and better convenience. We have no issues adding and using our virtual debit cards to WeChat Pay and Alipay. After our trip, we freeze the cards in our apps for additional safety.

How to Pay Using Weixin Pay and Alipay

There are 3 different ways to make payment using WeChat Pay and Alipay:

WeChat and Alipay - Which App is Better?

WeChat and Alipay QR codes are everywhere. Payment is as simple as scanning the merchant’s QR code using either App (not your phone’s QR code scanner), entering the amount payable, choose which credit card to charge to, and press confirm.

There are merchants with payment terminals which scan your QR code instead of you scanning their QR code. The merchant will enter the amount payable before scanning your QR code, and you will only need to approve the transaction in your App.

We were unable to use Alipay to make payment at a local food stall. In the screenshot below, we could not select either credit card for payment. When we clicked on “Learn More”, it appeared that credit cards cannot be used for “peer transfer”. There is a difference between “payment” and “peer transfer”, and this food stall vendor only had “peer transfer” enabled.

We were then able to scan the food stall vendor’s Weixin Pay QR code and pay using our Wise debit card. We had no idea why it worked for the vendor’s Weixin Pay. Generally, we used Alipay in Shenzhen and only used Weixin Pay when we faced issues.

Are Fees Cheaper When We Pay With Alipay+?

Alipay has worked with many digital wallets in Asia to offer payment in China via Alipay+. This means you can make payments in China via your usual bank or digital payment app. But are they good?

We tried scanning a normal Alipay QR code using our OCBC Digital App. The app informed us that we would be using Alipay+ for payment and we keyed in the amount payable. The amount is deduction directly from our OCBC bank account, not our OCBC credit card.

It is safe to say Wise’s overall rate is more attractive.

Other Things to Note

There are reports on reddit of the Apps asking for CVV code for verification or their bank blocking “suspicious” transactions that are actually legit. So make sure to add more than 1 credit card and that you have your card details on hand (we just take a picture of it). We did not face this CVV verification during our use.

In the rare case there is a complete failure on your app payments, you might want to ask your hotel concierge for help. Some may be able to help you transfer CNY to the e-wallet of your Super Apps so you can use them for payments. Also carry some amount of yuan with you as backup. Wise allows us free ATM withdrawals worldwide up to S$350 per month.

Making Cashless Payments in Hong Kong

Can we use Alipay and WeChat Pay in Hong Kong? We couldn’t pay using Alipay or WeChat Pay in Hong Kong, this function is only available to Mainland Chinese users.

When we downloaded and tried to register for AlipayHK, only a HK mobile number was accepted. We didn’t try extensively to solve for AlipayHK as there were other payment methods available.

HK merchants accept Cash, Mastercard, Visa, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Octopus Card (八达通卡). Small vendors tend to favour payment using Octopus Card and Cash. Since we had Octopus Cards for transportation, we ended up topping up our Octopus Card using cash. We then got a refund of the leftover value in our Octopus Card on our last day, with a handling fee of HK$11. The refund can be done at any MTR Customer Service Centre.

There was a food place we went which only accepts AlipayHK or HK$, and we couldn’t get our Alipay or OCBC Digital App to work there. We had to pay using HK$ eventually. Lesson Learnt  -  always keep some HK$ till you leave HK.

FAQ

Q1. How do I test if my payment setup is successful before going China?

A1. You can’t. Payments are only allowed when in China. Once you have added our credit card details successfully, there should be no issues using it. Install both Apps so you have a backup.

Q2. Do I need a data plan to use Alipay and WeChat (Weixin Pay) in China?

A2. Yes, you need data to use these apps. We highly recommend getting an eSIM with lotsa data when you visit China. This will allow you to access blocked apps (without VPN). We shared why eSIM > VPN and where to get eSIM plans online in this post.

There are cheap/free powerbank rentals everywhere in China. We have never found our phones running out of power before.

Q3. Can we still use cash to pay for stuff in China?

A3. Yes! All vendors are legally required to accept cash. It is an offence to not accept cash.

Q4. Can we transfer money between accounts - Alipay to Alipay or WeChat to Wechat?

A4. No, you can’t. Inter-account money transfer are only for local residents. You can only make payments (not money transfers) using Alipay and Weixin.

Q5. What others apps should I install in my phone going China?

A5. There are already some useful apps (Mini Programs) in the Super Apps ecosystem to use. Other than that, we recommend reading our guide to essential apps for your China trip.

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