{"id":13938,"date":"2024-04-10T06:30:27","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T06:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=13938"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:01:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:01:35","slug":"how-china-is-making-payments-easier-for-foreign-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-china-is-making-payments-easier-for-foreign-visitors\/","title":{"rendered":"How China is making payments easier for foreign visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, China has fully embraced mobile payments, becoming an almost cashless society. While this makes life very convenient for people living in China, it can create problems for people who are just visiting.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the Chinese authorities have recognised this and have launched a new push to optimise payment services for use by foreign nationals. This comes as part of a raft of measures to encourage people to visit China and make life easier for them when they do (which includes waiving visa requirements for citizens of a growing number of countries).<\/p>\n

In mid-March this year, the State Council and the People\u2019s Bank of China released the \u2018Guide to Payment Services in China<\/a>\u2019, which details a number of payment options for foreign nationals.<\/p>\n

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WeChat Pay\/Alipay <\/strong><\/h4>\n

As of the end of July 2023, both WeChat Pay and Alipay allow users to link an international bank card, including Mastercard, Visa, JCB, and Diners Club (read our guide on the set-up process for WeChat here<\/a>). This can then be used to pay for things via online platforms or by scanning a QR code in stores and restaurants. It should be noted that foreign nationals can only use WeChat Pay and Alipay to pay companies or merchants i.e. you cannot send money to or accept money from individual users.<\/p>\n

Following the release of the latest guidelines, the transaction limits for foreign nationals using mobile payment services have also been increased from US$1,000 (approx. RMB 7,233 or \u00a3790) to US$5,000 (approx. RMB 36,166 or \u00a33,945) for single transactions, with the annual transaction limit increasing from $10,000 to $50,000.<\/p>\n

Foreign users can now complete the initial activation of WeChat Pay without a Chinese SIM card and make payments up to a cumulative limit of RMB 15,000 for a certain amount of time (as yet unspecified) without verification.<\/p>\n