How to Pay in China (2026): Alipay, WeChat Pay, TenPayGo, Cards and Cash

01 / STORY

Start here

Payment is the one thing to sort out before you fly to China. Convenience stores, noodle shops, metro gates, taxis and museum tickets all run on QR codes. You no longer need a Chinese bank account or a Chinese phone number — but "I linked my card" and "I can actually pay" are two different milestones, and the gap between them is where most first trips stumble.

This guide sets you up in the order that causes the fewest problems: get one wallet working before you fly, add a second as backup, understand the fee line at ¥200, and keep a small amount of cash for edge cases. Where fees, limits or eligibility are mentioned, the figure on your own payment screen and official channels are final.

02 / ORIENTATION

Use the guide in order

1. Install and register → follow the official app’s checks
2. Link a supported card → resolve issuer authentication
3. Try a modest purchase → inspect the amount and currency
4. If declined → use your backup and investigate privately

03 / CHECKLIST

Your setup checklist

Your ticks stay on this page only. No account or personal data is sent.

04 / FACTS

Evidence and its source scope

05 / STEPS

The complete guide

The short answer

Install Alipay first. It has the broadest language support for visitors and a setup built around a foreign passport and an overseas phone number. Add WeChat Pay next, because WeChat is also how hotels, restaurants and drivers message you, and some counters show only a WeChat QR code. For the lightest sign-up, look at TenPayGo, the visitor app Tencent's Weixin Pay team launched in Shenzhen on 24 September 2026 — you register with an email address and pay across the WeChat Pay network, but it is still a new product.

You can link an international card to both Alipay and WeChat Pay without a mainland bank account. Government guidance lists Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club and Discover among the networks that can be linked 1. What you get is a consumption wallet: you can pay merchants and use many mini-programs, but you cannot send peer-to-peer transfers or red packets from a foreign-card balance, and you cannot withdraw a wallet balance back to a foreign card.

Bring two cards from different networks if you can (one Visa, one Mastercard) and carry ¥300–500 in small notes.

Before you fly: set up at home

Register on home Wi-Fi with your usual SIM in the phone so verification codes actually arrive.

Alipay. Register with your overseas number, verify with your passport (name must match exactly), then link your card under Me → Bank Cards. If a bind fails, clear 3-D Secure / a travel notice with your bank first.

WeChat Pay. Register with the same number, then open Me → Services → Wallet, add a card, set a six-digit payment password, and verify with your passport. Enter the billing address exactly as your bank holds it.

After you land, make a small first purchase (a convenience-store drink) to confirm everything works.

The PBOC's visitor payment guide covers bank cards, cash, mobile payment and e-CNY, and notes that no ID is required for mobile payments under a certain amount 2. Check official channels for the current version.

Fees and limits: the ¥200 line and the $5,000 ceiling

Two numbers explain most confusion. The first is ¥200. Across Alipay and WeChat Pay, current visitor guidance is consistent: foreign-card transactions of ¥200 or less carry no additional platform service fee, and transactions above ¥200 are charged about 3%, shown before you confirm 3. Your home bank may add its own foreign-transaction fee of roughly 1–3% on top, so a card with no foreign-transaction fee saves real money over a trip. First-time-user promotions come and go, so do not budget around a waiver unless your own wallet displays one.

The second is the regulatory ceiling: the PBOC raised the single-transaction limit for overseas visitors from $1,000 to $5,000 and the annual limit from $10,000 to $50,000 12. Treat it as a ceiling — your issuer's limits apply first. For a large purchase, compare the app total (including the 3%) with a physical-card terminal.

Always confirm fees and limits in the app and with your issuing bank. Platforms update terms and campaigns, and official channels prevail.

Paying day to day: two ways to scan

Every QR payment is one of two moves. Either you tap Scan, point your camera at the merchant's printed code, type the amount if asked, and confirm — or you open your payment code and the cashier scans you. If one screen stalls, switching to the other often clears it.

A shop's business QR code is the intended use case and works with a foreign-card wallet. A purely personal collection code is where foreign-card payments most often fail, because peer-to-peer transfers sit outside the wallet's scope. Fall back to the other app, a physical card, or cash.

Pay at the merchant's displayed code rather than a code handed to you in the street, do not hand an unlocked phone to a stranger to "help" you pay, and complete verification prompts only inside the official app on a connection you trust.

Transport, tickets and mini-programs

Inside Alipay and WeChat you will find transport codes, ride-hailing and ticket mini-programs. Your payment code is not your transport code: open Transport, select your city, and activate that city's transit QR before the gate will accept it. Activate once per city.

Bank cards are accepted where the network logo is displayed, and UnionPay is accepted at POS terminals across the mainland 2. In Beijing and Shanghai you can now tap a foreign bank card directly at the metro gate — Beijing covers all 29 lines and 523 stations, and Shanghai's rollout covers 21 lines and 517 stations (operator-published figures); in other cities, activate the in-app transit code for your city or check the operator's visitor information. Keep the passport you verified with; ticket checks are tied to it.

Cards and cash: the backup layer

Direct card acceptance is strongest in international hotels, larger malls, airport retail and major attractions, and weakest in taxis, small eateries, street stalls and metro gates. The PBOC's 2024 guideline pushed to expand acceptance at key merchants, reporting 90% among key businesses in Shanghai and Zhejiang at the time 1 — progress, but not a reason to rely on plastic alone.

Cash is the legal fallback: renminbi is legal tender and cannot be refused, with cash-acceptance regulations taking effect on 1 February 2026 4. Carry ¥300–500 in ¥10/¥20/¥50 notes for vendors who cannot take your code, poor signal, or a dead battery. Exchange at bank outlets with a currency-exchange sign; withdraw at ATMs showing your network's logo 2.

Digital yuan (e-CNY) is listed as a fourth route in the official guide 2, but for a short visit treat it as a pilot extra: visitor funding routes are narrower and merchant coverage is still thin.

TenPayGo: the new email-only option

TenPayGo removes the phone-number step. Launched by Tencent's Weixin Pay team in Shenzhen on 24 September 2026, it was built for overseas visitors 5. Sign up with an email — no Chinese phone number, bank account or WeChat account required — link a payment method, and pay wherever Weixin Pay is accepted.

Tencent says it supports cards from seven international networks including Visa and Mastercard, Apple Pay, and around 60 overseas wallets (Starryblu and ShopeePay are first partners) 56, plus menu photo-translation. Shenzhen metro and bus transit codes can be activated in the app (Shenzhen-first); departure tax-refund support is still in development 6.

Coverage is still rolling out and some services were described as arriving rather than live — check your app's service page. Tencent had not published a TenPayGo-specific fee schedule at launch, so read the confirmation screen rather than assuming WeChat Pay's ¥200/3% pattern 7. TenPayGo is now the easiest front door for a short trip; Alipay remains the sturdiest all-rounder, and both plus cash is the low-stress combination.

If something fails

A card rejected at bind or first payment is often an issuer block on cross-border online transactions — a travel notice or enabling 3-D Secure resolves the majority. A verification loop usually means a passport photo with glare or clipped edges; retake it in flat light with the full data page in frame. An SMS code that never arrives is a connectivity problem, which is why setup belongs at home. A payment declined at one merchant's code but accepted at the next is usually the merchant-code versus personal-code distinction above, not your account.

If a charge is reversed, the refund returns to the linked card rather than sitting as a spendable balance, and it can take a few business days to land. Keep the in-app transaction record until it does.

Practical checklist

Before you fly: - Install Alipay; register, verify with your passport, and link a Visa or Mastercard. - Install WeChat; enable WeChat Pay, verify, and link a second card from a different network if you have one. - Optionally install TenPayGo; register with email, link a card or Apple Pay, and check which services are live for you. - Tell your bank you will be transacting in China; confirm 3-D Secure is enabled; prefer a card with no foreign-transaction fee.

After you land: - Make a small first purchase (around ¥10–20) and confirm whether you scan or get scanned. - Activate the transport QR for your arrival city before you reach the gate. - Withdraw or exchange ¥300–500 in small notes, kept separate from your main card. - Save your hotel's Chinese name and address as a screenshot for drivers. - Each evening, skim the day's transactions so a surprise fee or duplicate charge is caught while receipts are fresh.

Payment rules, fees and app features change. Always confirm the amount, fee and terms shown in the app at the moment you pay, and for policy questions rely on official channels — the PBOC visitor payment guide and the platforms' own help pages prevail.

07 / RELATED

Companion guides