|
just came back from 3 weeks in china and mobile payments stressed me out before I went but actually wasn't that bad.
I used alipay. download the app, choose sign up with international phone number, select passport as id type. upload a photo of your passport and take a selfie. then add your credit card. verification took maybe 12 hours for me. some people say 24 so do it before you leave.
once it's setup you can pay for almost everything. street food, subways (scan the qr code at the gate), didi (their uber), even some museums. I barely used cash.
wechat pay is more common among locals but setup is harder. you need a friend who already has wechat to "verify" you i think? I didn't bother.
now the annoying part - VPN. install it BEFORE you go to china. alipay works without vpn but google maps, instagram, whatsapp, etc do not. I used expressvpn, it worked most of the time but sometimes I had to switch servers. astrill is another one people recommend.
bring some cash as backup like $50 usd worth. bank of china atms take foreign cards but not every atm works so don't rely on it.
anyone tried the newer vpns? heard some are getting blocked. |
Posted on 2026-7-11 17:31:37