Payment guides
Mobile wallets, cards, cash, and QR payments that actually work.
17 guides available
Payment setup path
China Payment Setup
Use this order to prepare one main payment method, one backup wallet or card, and a small cash fallback before you need them.
Featured payment guides
Set up mobile wallets, international cards, and RMB cash for China, then use a clear fallback flow when a payment method fails.
QR Payments in China: Identify the Code Before PayingUse merchant-scan and customer-scan payment flows safely, distinguish payment from transit or menu codes, and handle pending or duplicate charges.
Alipay for Foreign Visitors: Setup, Test, and Backup PlanHow to register Alipay, bind an eligible international card, make the first QR payment, and recover when the card or merchant route is not accepted.
Weixin Pay for Foreign Visitors: Account, Card, Verification, and BackupHow visitors can prepare Weixin Pay with an overseas mobile number and eligible international card, verify the account, test both QR flows, and handle limits or failures.
Linking a Foreign Card to Alipay or Weixin Pay: A Troubleshooting GuideHow visitors can prepare card and passport details, complete issuer verification, understand live fees and limits, test a small wallet payment, and diagnose card-binding failures.
Cash in China: Getting RMB, Making Change, and Planning a BackupHow foreign visitors can obtain and use RMB cash in China, choose a useful backup amount, handle change, preserve exchange receipts, and combine cash with cards and wallets.
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- China Tax Refund for Tourists: What to Do at the Store and Airport
A step-by-step guide to China's departure VAT refund for overseas visitors, including the RMB 200 threshold, eligible stores, unused goods, instant refunds, Customs, and airport timing.
- Alipay for Foreign Visitors: Setup, Test, and Backup Plan
How to register Alipay, bind an eligible international card, make the first QR payment, and recover when the card or merchant route is not accepted.
- How to Pay in China: A Resilient Setup for Foreign Visitors
Set up mobile wallets, international cards, and RMB cash for China, then use a clear fallback flow when a payment method fails.
- Linking a Foreign Card to Alipay or Weixin Pay: A Troubleshooting Guide
How visitors can prepare card and passport details, complete issuer verification, understand live fees and limits, test a small wallet payment, and diagnose card-binding failures.
- Alipay vs WeChat Pay for Visitors: Choose, Set Up, and Keep a Backup
A source-based comparison of Alipay and Weixin Pay for foreign visitors, focused on card eligibility, account recovery, current fees and limits, QR flows, and fallback planning.
- China Trip Budget: Plan Spending Access, Cash, and Backups
Build a China travel budget without relying on a universal daily figure, then divide it across cards, mobile wallets, and RMB cash.
- Cash in China: Getting RMB, Making Change, and Planning a Backup
How foreign visitors can obtain and use RMB cash in China, choose a useful backup amount, handle change, preserve exchange receipts, and combine cash with cards and wallets.
- Payment Safety in China: QR Codes, Verification Messages, and Disputes
A calm, source-based guide to checking QR payees and amounts, protecting verification codes, using official support, handling account warnings, and documenting disputed payments.
- Do Visitors Need a Chinese Bank Account?
Decide whether foreign cards, mobile wallets, and cash are enough for a China trip, or whether salary, rent, transfers, and a longer stay justify a local account.
- Paying for Metro and Bus in China: Check Each City's System
Choose a city-specific transit QR, ticket, card, supported bank card, or cash route, and recover from a failed gate or bus payment.
- Payment Failed in China: Diagnose the Status, Avoid Duplicates, and Switch
A step-by-step response to failed, pending, duplicate, or unclear wallet and card payments in China, including what evidence to save and whom to contact.
- Paying for Taxis and Didi in China: Set Up a Fallback
Prepare in-app, QR, and cash payment for ride-hailing and licensed taxis in China, then verify fares, tolls, pending charges, and receipts.
- Splitting Bills in China: Four Workable Methods
How groups can split restaurant and travel costs in China using separate orders, one payer, payment rotation, or cash reimbursement.
- QR Payments in China: Identify the Code Before Paying
Use merchant-scan and customer-scan payment flows safely, distinguish payment from transit or menu codes, and handle pending or duplicate charges.
- Tipping in China: When the Bill Is Usually Enough
A practical guide to restaurant, hotel, taxi, tour, and private-driver tipping in China, including service charges and polite ways to ask.
- Weixin Pay for Foreign Visitors: Account, Card, Verification, and Backup
How visitors can prepare Weixin Pay with an overseas mobile number and eligible international card, verify the account, test both QR flows, and handle limits or failures.
- Withdrawing RMB From an ATM With a Foreign Card
Prepare overseas cash access, choose a bank ATM with the correct network logo, review fees and conversion, secure the transaction, and handle retained cards or failed withdrawals.