How to Pay in China as a Tourist (2026)

China runs on mobile payments — and tourists can now use them too.

The good news: you don’t need a Chinese bank account, and you don’t need to carry a fat stack of cash. With about ten minutes of setup before you fly, you can pay for almost everything with your phone, exactly the way locals do.

The short answer

1. Download Alipay (and optionally WeChat Pay) and bind your foreign card before you travel.
2. Carry a little cash as a backup — merchants are required to accept it.
3. Keep your international card for hotels and big purchases.

Option 1: Alipay (recommended for tourists)

Alipay has gone all-in on foreign visitors and it’s the smoothest option:

• Register with your foreign phone number and passport.
• Bind a foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB or Amex card directly in the app — no Chinese bank account required.
• Scan QR codes to pay at restaurants, shops, taxis, attractions and even some street stalls.
• It also handles transport: booking high-speed rail tickets, hailing rides, and using some city transit.

In 2025 alone, more than 10 million international visitors paid with Alipay, and inbound spending through the app roughly doubled year on year. It works.

Set it up before you fly — verification is quickest while you have Wi-Fi and your passport handy.

Option 2: WeChat Pay

WeChat Pay is the other giant, and the QR codes work similarly. For tourists it’s worth setting up if you’re planning to use WeChat heavily (it’s the main app for messaging and, increasingly, for businesses to contact customers).

• WeChat has partnered with 16 overseas payment systems so visitors from several countries can link their home wallets.
• The setup flow is a little more involved than Alipay’s, so many travelers use Alipay as their primary and WeChat as a backup.

Option 3: Cash

• Still legal tender everywhere — and since February 2026, merchants in China are required to accept cash.
• Carry ¥200–500 in small notes for markets, tips (rarely expected) and as a fallback if your phone dies or a network hiccups.
• Exchanging money: use an airport exchange counter, a major bank, or withdraw from an ATM with your card. Some travelers use a no-fee international card for ATM withdrawals.

Option 4: International cards directly

• Hotels and big chain stores usually accept Visa/Mastercard directly.
• Small vendors, taxis and local restaurants generally don’t — that’s the gap mobile payment fills.

Practical tips

• Bind your card before you arrive — you’ll need a stable connection and your passport.
• Watch your limits: foreign-card binding has transaction and annual caps; check the latest numbers in-app before a big purchase.
• Backup plan: phone + a bit of cash + an international card covers virtually every situation.
• Ask for a tax-refund invoice on big shopping purchases, and claim your refund at departure (see below).

Tax refund on departure (离境退税)

• If you buy goods to take home, ask the store whether it participates in the tax-refund scheme and ask for the refund invoice.
• Claim at the departure airport’s tax-refund counter (present passport + invoice + goods).
• The instant refund service is now available nationwide at many participating stores — you get the tax refunded on the spot, before you even reach the airport.

A day of spending, end to end

Walk through a normal day and the picture is simple. Breakfast at a noodle shop: scan the QR on the counter, pay ~¥15–25. Metro: Alipay’s transit code taps you through the gate, a few yuan per ride. A museum ticket: book and pay in-app, no cash window needed. Lunch with friends: whoever’s app is open splits the bill by scanning each other — no bank transfer needed. A Didi ride: paid automatically at drop-off. A market snack: the stall’s QR, another few yuan. Dinner: scan and pay, then show the receipt if you need a tax invoice for expenses. By the end of the day, cash has barely been touched — exactly how locals live.

When cash is genuinely better

Cash still wins in a few situations, and it’s worth keeping some for them: very small vendors (a newspaper stand, a street fruit seller) who may not want to fuss with a card-backed payment; emergency situations when your phone dies or the network drops; and when a card is declined at an odd terminal. Carry ¥200–500 in small notes. On the flip side, don’t over-carry — big wads are unnecessary and ATMs are everywhere.

Cards, ATMs and withdrawing cash

For cash, the practical path is an ATM withdrawal with your debit card — most Chinese ATMs (especially the big four banks) accept Visa/Mastercard, and some accept UnionPay/others. Withdraw larger amounts to minimise per-withdrawal fees, and use an ATM inside a bank branch or a busy area. Prepaid travel cards work too but add a step. Exchange counters at airports and banks give you cash but at worse rates than an ATM. If your bank charges foreign-transaction fees, that’s your cue to lean more on Alipay, which often nets out cheaper for small spends.

Large purchases and the tax refund

For big-ticket items — electronics, silk, tea, jewellery — the tax refund becomes worth the paperwork. Before you pay, ask if the store participates in the tax-refund scheme and request the tax-refund invoice (离境退税单). Keep the goods, invoice and receipts together. At departure, use the airport’s tax-refund counter, or check whether the store offered an instant refund (available at many big tourist stores), which puts the tax back on your card or Alipay on the spot. Rules change and thresholds exist, so confirm the current minimum purchase amount before relying on it.

A note on splitting bills

China’s QR-payment culture makes splitting easy, but in a different way than Western apps. The payer scans or is scanned once; anyone who owes them money can transfer from their own app — Alipay and WeChat both allow person-to-person transfers between foreign and local users, and two foreign users can settle the same way. So when a group meal ends, one person pays the restaurant and everyone else sends them their share in-app. It’s quick, and it’s how locals do it — no card swipes, no asking the waiter to split the bill.

What tourists actually carry

A realistic wallet for a China trip is phone (Alipay + WeChat set up), a little cash (¥200–500 in small notes), and one international card as backup. That covers every situation: QR payment for the 95% of transactions, cash for the rare vendor or dead battery, and the card for hotels and big purchases. Skip the travellers’ cheques (largely obsolete in China) and don’t over-carry cash (ATMs are everywhere). This three-part setup is what most locals now effectively use, minus the card — and it’s what makes a China trip feel frictionless.

As a rule of thumb, set up Alipay first and treat cash and your card as the backup — that single decision covers almost every payment scenario on the ground.

Last updated: August 2026. Payment limits and tax-refund rules change — confirm the latest in-app or with the tax authority before relying on specific figures.