The vast majority of Chinese use either Alipay or Wechat pay in daily life. Though, it has just started 5 years ago, you can pay for everything in China via mobile payment. Since, it is extremely convenient to use, most young people don’t use cash any more.
Sometimes, it can be frustrating that you can’t get a taxi or order food in the restaurant without mobile payment, especially in Hangzhou (a city 1 hour away from Shanghai). But, don’t worry, most stores and restaurants still take cash.
Before November 2019, those two apps only accept who have a Chinese bank account. Now, both of them also take western credit cards. For now, I have seen some of my guests who have used Alipay, but haven’t seen anyone using Wechat Pay. However, it seems that it is quite complicated and lots of times it doesn’t work.
How do you register Alipay to get a Tour Pass? Why doesn’t it work for me even though I have provided all the required information? From my guests’ experience, there are two things that you need to note. First, you need to install Alipay and fill all required information, upload your passport information. Basically, you need to fill out all of the information Alipay requires within your own country, since it needs phone number verification to be activated. After you done all that, if it still doesn’t work, then you need to contact Customer service to activate it. I have tried twice with two different guests and it worked both times.
If it works for you, congratulations. You can order a taxi, order food, and pay for things like a local.
Here is a link I found that shows how to do a basic step by step setup:
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