Understanding Chinese Payment Systems: Mobile, Cards, Cash and e-CNY

In China, most people pay by scanning a QR code with one of two phone apps: Alipay (支付宝, Zhīfùbǎo) or WeChat Pay (微信支付, Wēixìn Zhīfù). Both apps let visitors link a Visa, Mastercard or other foreign card, so your own card ends up paying almost everywhere through your phone. Tapping the card itself works in hotels, airports, larger shops and the metro in a handful of big cities, and cash is still legal tender that businesses are not allowed to refuse. For a normal trip, the setup that works is: Alipay with your card linked, WeChat Pay as a backup, one or two physical cards, and a small amount of cash. The rest of this guide explains each piece and which combination suits which kind of traveler.

How paying in China works: the short answer

China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, lists in its payment guide for visitors five ways a foreign visitor can pay: mobile payment, bank cards, cash, the digital yuan (e-CNY), and a Chinese bank account. A bank account only makes sense if you are living in China, so for a visitor the real choice is between the first four.

They are not equal. Mobile payment is what Chinese people use for nearly everything, from a coffee to a train ticket. Bank cards work well in the places that serve international guests, but the noodle shop, the fruit stand and the small museum café usually only show a QR code. Cash is the backup: the law protects it, but day to day few people use it, so you may wait while a vendor finds change. The digital yuan is optional and adds little for a short trip.

The government's own policy for major shopping areas, tourist sites, entertainment venues and hotels sums it up well: big purchases by card, small ones by QR code, and cash as the backstop. Foreign visitors are using the phone route more every year: the payment clearing house NetsUnion reports that inbound visitors' mobile payments so far in 2026 grew by about 70% in number compared with the same period a year earlier.

Paying by QR code works in one of two ways. Either you open the app's scan function and scan the merchant's code, then type the amount, or you open your own payment code and the cashier scans it. Small stalls usually have a printed code on the counter; supermarkets and chain stores usually scan yours. Each code carries the logo of the app it belongs to, so use the matching app.

Mobile payments: Alipay and WeChat Pay

The central bank's payment guide lists Alipay, WeChat Pay and the UnionPay app as the main mobile payment products, and you only need a phone to use them. In practice, visitors use Alipay and WeChat Pay. Alipay takes cards issued outside mainland China, credit or debit, and lets you register with a foreign phone number. WeChat Pay accepts a passport as ID and does not require a mainland phone number.

Alipay: the easiest place to start

Alipay has an International Version for visitors: after you register you choose that version, link your bank card, and then you can pay in shops, take taxis, ride public transport and book flights and hotels; it also has built-in translation and a currency converter. You can register with your home phone number as long as it can receive a text-message code, and you can do it before you leave home. Inside the app, mini-programs (small apps that open inside Alipay) let you call a car from DiDi, China's main ride-hailing service, in English and get a QR code for city buses and metros.

Alipay accepts cards from all seven major international networks, but for American Express only cards issued by American Express itself work, not Amex-branded cards from partner banks. Payments of 200 yuan or less carry no service fee; above that, the most recent official figure is 3% of the whole amount, and the exact fee is shown on the payment screen before you confirm. Before your first card payment, Alipay asks you to enter your passport details, and once your yearly spending reaches 2,000 US dollars it asks you to upload your passport for identity verification, which raises the limits. Step-by-step setup, failed card links and fixes are in our guide to using Alipay with a foreign card.

WeChat Pay: your second wallet

WeChat is China's main messaging app, and WeChat Pay is the wallet inside it. You add a card under Me > Pay and Services > Wallet > Bank Cards. Its card list includes American Express, along with UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club and Discover. Tencent says a linked foreign card can pay at tens of millions of merchants, including small shops and street stalls.

The fee rule is the same shape as Alipay's: free for payments of 200 yuan or less, and 3% above that, refunded in proportion if you get a refund. Tencent is also running a fee waiver for people who link a foreign card to WeChat Pay for the first time: 90 days without the 3% fee, up to 1,000 yuan of spending a day, counted from your first payment; Tencent says the program runs until 31 December 2026, so check the WeChat Pay app for whether it has been extended. Setup, the identity check and the "payment restricted" message are covered in our guide to using WeChat Pay with a foreign card, and the account itself in our WeChat setup guide.

Which one should you choose?

Set up both, and make Alipay your main one. Alipay's International Version is designed around visitors, its English interface is easier to follow, and the taxi and transport mini-programs are right there. WeChat is worth having anyway, because hotels, guides and new friends will message you on it, and a second wallet means you can still pay when one app declines a card or asks for a check you cannot finish at the till.

Two exceptions. If your main card is an American Express issued by a partner bank rather than by Amex itself, Alipay will not take it. WeChat Pay lists American Express without Alipay's restriction, so it is worth trying there; check the add-card screen, and bring a Visa or Mastercard as well. And if your phone already has an e-wallet from home, check whether it works in China before you install anything: Alipay's network accepts more than ten overseas wallets from places such as Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore, and WeChat Pay's "Pay with Your Home E-Wallet" service had 36 overseas wallets live as of May 2026.

One cost to keep in mind: your own bank may add a foreign transaction fee on top of any Alipay or WeChat Pay fee, so check your card's terms before you leave.

Paying with your card directly

Your Visa, Mastercard or other foreign card works at any merchant that shows that network's acceptance logo; where there is no logo, ask the cashier, and a UnionPay (银联, Yínlián) card works at any merchant that has a card terminal. Bank of China, one of the big banks that supplies card terminals, says airports, hotels, department stores, restaurants and entertainment venues using its terminals and showing the logo take UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and Diners Club cards by tap (including Apple Pay), chip or swipe.

Since 2024, the government has required local authorities to list key venues — large shopping areas, tourist sites, museums, hotels, transport hubs and hospitals — and push them to accept foreign cards. The central bank said in mid-2024 that card acceptance at those key merchants had risen sharply, with foreign card payments in June 2024 reaching 1.61 million transactions worth 2.9 billion yuan, about double the number in February that year. In plain terms: expect your card to work at your hotel, at the airport, in malls and at chain restaurants, and do not expect it at a market stall, a small restaurant or a taxi.

The metro is the main exception. At least five big cities now let you tap a contactless foreign card straight on the metro gate, with no ticket and no app: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen. Which networks work differs by city:

In Shanghai and Shenzhen, your card also has to be able to pay small amounts without a PIN, and in Shanghai a few older cards (Type-B chip cards, and cards without offline data authentication) will not work. In other cities, use the metro QR code inside Alipay or WeChat instead. Our guide to China's metro systems covers tickets, transfers and the QR codes city by city.

If a card terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency instead of yuan, choose yuan: Visa's rules require the terminal to show the exchange rate and any markup and to let you decline, and paying in yuan avoids that markup. Card fees, ATM withdrawals and which cards to bring are covered in detail in our guide to using international cards in China.

Cash: legal tender and your backup

The renminbi (人民币, "people's currency", counted in yuan) in cash is legal tender, and no business or person may refuse it; larger shops, restaurants and hotels must have a way to take cash, and small shops, street vendors and taxis should accept it. Railways, buses, metros and ferries must offer a cash option or a way to convert cash, and they may not charge you for that conversion. The State Council's 2024 payment rules call cash the backstop, ask businesses to keep change ready, and tell banks to offer ready-made "change purses" (零钱包, língqián bāo) of mixed small notes.

So cash will get you out of trouble if your phone dies or an app blocks your card. It is less handy for daily spending, because few people carry it and a 100-yuan note can be hard to break at a small stall. Bank branches can swap big notes for smaller ones at the counter or a machine. Foreign banknotes are not accepted for everyday payments; dollars or euros have to be changed into yuan first.

You can get yuan from ATMs that take international cards at airports and in cities, at exchange counters and bank branches with an exchange sign, and some hotel front desks; leftover yuan can be changed back before you leave. If you bring cash with you, each person may carry up to 20,000 yuan in Chinese cash per trip, and foreign cash worth more than 5,000 US dollars must be declared to customs on entry.

How much to carry, what to do if someone refuses cash, and what to do with leftovers are in do you need cash in China. Where to change money and how the rates compare are in where to exchange money in China.

The digital yuan and other options

The digital yuan, or e-CNY (数字人民币, shùzì rénmínbì), is China's official digital currency, and its app is called "e-CNY" in the App Store and Google Play. Visitors can register with a foreign phone number and top it up with a Visa or Mastercard, but it only works at merchants that accept it, and the app works only in the pilot regions listed in the central bank's payment guide, which include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan, Chongqing and Hainan — check the guide for the latest list. For a short trip it does nothing that Alipay cannot; see the digital yuan for tourists if you are curious.

Two newer apps are worth knowing about as backups. Nihao China, run by UnionPay, lets you register with an email or phone number and top up a Tour Wallet with a Visa or Mastercard; it can scan UnionPay, Alipay and WeChat Pay codes and pays on more than 200 online platforms, including the 12306 train-ticket site. TenPayGo, from Tencent, pays at any merchant that takes WeChat Pay without needing a WeChat account. Both are useful if you would rather not install WeChat, or if a card will not link to one of the big two. Prepaid cards are rarely needed now; one option is the UnionPay app's prepaid travel card, which you apply for and top up inside the app.

Which combination should you set up?

The right mix depends on how long you stay, how comfortable you are with apps, and what card you carry. Here is what we recommend for the most common kinds of trips.

Short trip (a few days to three weeks)

This covers most first-time visitors.

• Main: Alipay, International Version, with your main credit or debit card linked.
• Backup: WeChat Pay with a second card linked, or the same card if you only have one.
• Cards in your wallet: two cards on different networks, at least one of them contactless for hotels and metro gates.
• Cash: a modest amount, taken from an airport ATM on arrival, for small vendors and emergencies.

If your card charges a foreign transaction fee, a multi-currency card such as Wise is a common choice to link instead; compare its fees and ATM terms with your own bank's before you decide.

Long stay (study, work or several months)

Use Alipay and WeChat Pay with your foreign card for the first weeks, then open a local account. Foreign nationals can open an account with a passport at banks such as ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications; ask the branch or check the bank's website for its exact requirements. A Chinese bank card matters because some wallet features only work with one: adding money to your WeChat balance, for example, requires a card issued in mainland China. Foreign cards in Alipay and WeChat Pay also have a ceiling after verification of 5,000 US dollars per payment and 50,000 US dollars a year, which a long stay can reach.

Business travel

Hotels, business restaurants and airports take cards, so a corporate card covers the big bills and gives you a normal card statement. Set up Alipay anyway for taxis, ride-hailing and the coffee between meetings, and set up WeChat, because Chinese colleagues and clients will almost certainly want to add you there. Ask your host or the hotel how they handle official receipts for expense claims before you pay. More on meetings, hotels and etiquette in our business travel guide.

Older travelers and anyone uneasy with apps

You can travel with only a card and cash, especially on an organized tour or with a hotel that books taxis for you. Cash must be accepted, and the metro in at least five cities takes a tapped card. Even so, one wallet app makes daily life much easier. Ask a family member to install Alipay, link your card and test a small payment with you before you go, then keep that one app and leave WeChat Pay as optional. Our guide to senior travel in China covers pacing, health and getting around.

If your main card is on a less common network

JCB cards can be linked to both Alipay and WeChat Pay. American Express cards issued by Amex itself can be linked to Alipay, and WeChat Pay lists American Express without Alipay's restriction, so a partner-bank Amex is worth trying there — check the add-card screen. Direct tapping is patchier: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen metro gates take both Amex and JCB, while Chengdu's announcement lists Amex but not JCB. Carry a second card from another network as well if you have one.

Before-you-fly checklist

1. Install Alipay and WeChat from your app store and register with your home phone number.
2. Link your card in both apps and enter your passport details when asked.
3. Check your card's foreign transaction fee and ask your bank to expect payments from China.
4. Make sure your card is contactless; for the Shanghai and Shenzhen metro, check with your bank that the card can pay small contactless amounts without a PIN.
5. Plan for mobile data on arrival, because QR payments need the internet. Your home number must still receive text messages if an app asks for a code. An eSIM from a provider such as Airalo or a local SIM handles the data side; see our SIM card and eSIM guide.
6. Pack two cards on different networks and keep them in different places.
7. Plan to take a small amount of cash from an ATM at the airport.

For the other apps worth installing before you go (maps, translation, ride-hailing), see must-have apps before you go, and for everything else to pack, our essential items checklist.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

China runs on QR-code payments, and visitors can join in by linking a foreign card to Alipay and WeChat Pay before the trip. Make Alipay your main wallet and WeChat Pay your backup, carry two contactless cards on different networks for hotels, bigger stores and the metro in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu, and keep a little cash, which every business is required to accept. Skip the digital yuan unless you are curious. If you are staying for months, open a local bank account. Next step: install both apps tonight, link your card, and read the Alipay guide if anything goes wrong.

The People's Bank of China's payment guide for visitors, the Alipay+ page on paying in mainland China and the central bank's notice on refusing cash are the official references.

Last updated: November 2026