Payments and money in China for tourists

China is close to a cashless society, and the assumption that you therefore need a Chinese bank account is the single most common mistake foreign visitors make. You do not. Two apps, set up before you fly, will cover almost everything. Everything else on this page is the backup plan.

Set both apps up at home, not at the airport. Registration needs a passport, a phone number that can receive a text message, and a card your bank will actually authorise. Doing that at a hotel desk in Beijing, with a card your bank has already flagged, is the most avoidable way to lose an afternoon.

The two apps that matter

Alipay and WeChat Pay are how people pay in China. Both register with an international phone number or email address, both verify your identity with a passport, and both then bind a foreign card. In practice you pay by scanning the merchant’s QR code, or by showing your own payment code to be scanned.

You do not strictly need both, but single-point failures are routine — a bank that blocks one binding, a scanner that accepts only one app — so most travellers configure both.

Which cards each app accepts

App	Cards you can bind	Notes
Alipay	Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club, Discover	One vendor guide also lists American Express; official and vendor guides are not consistent on this
WeChat Pay	Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, Discover	Credit or debit
UnionPay	A “Tour card” topped up from a foreign card	A UnionPay card of your own is not required
e-CNY	Visa or Mastercard top-up in pilot regions	At least one vendor says a Chinese ID is still needed. Unresolved — do not plan around it

What it costs

The fee structure is the one part of this that the sources agree on:

• Free on transactions of RMB 200 or less.
• 3% on the amount above RMB 200.

Alipay shows the exact rate at checkout. WeChat Pay refunds the fee proportionally if the transaction is refunded.

Transaction and annual limits differ between sources

This is where the reporting parts company, and we would rather show you the disagreement than pick a number for you:

• The National Immigration Administration (November 2024) states USD 50,000 per year and USD 5,000 per transaction.
• China Daily’s China Bound guide (December 2025) states USD 1,000 per transaction and USD 10,000 per year.

The direction of travel is tightening. Check the limit inside the app, and with your card issuer, before you depend on any large payment.

When your bank declines the binding

Some foreign banks reject the binding because their own systems cannot process it. This is not something you can resolve at the till. If it happens:

1. Call your bank and ask directly whether they authorise payments made through Alipay or WeChat Pay.
2. Try a second card from a different issuer. That is the entire point of carrying two.
3. Fall back to a physical card or cash for that day, and re-try the app later.

Travellers from sanctioned markets have a harder version of the same problem. Most Russian banks are cut off from the international card networks, and UnionPay and Mir acceptance inside China is inconsistent and shifts from month to month. Treat any specific card-brand claim — including ours — as something to re-verify close to departure rather than something to rely on.

Physical cards, cash and ATMs

Foreign cards work wherever their logo is displayed: UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club and Discover. UnionPay cards work at all point-of-sale terminals. Acceptance is weakest at small restaurants and street stalls, where a mobile QR code is often the only method on offer.

Cash still works, and it still comes from the usual places: bank branches, money changers, airport self-service exchange machines, and ATMs that accept international cards, including downtown.

How much cash to carry

RMB 500–1,000 per person is the backup figure the practical guides settle on. The currency is the renminbi (RMB/CNY), where 1 yuan = 10 jiao = 100 fen; carry small notes for markets and rural transport.

Two honest gaps:

• ATM withdrawal limits and foreign-card ATM fees could not be confirmed from a primary source. A cap of around RMB 2,500 per withdrawal is commonly reported but unverified. Make one small test withdrawal first and see what your bank charges for it.
• Declare cash at customs if you are carrying RMB 20,000 or more, or foreign currency worth USD 5,000 or more.

Claiming your VAT back on shopping

China refunds value-added tax to short-stay visitors, and the scheme was widened in April 2025.

Who qualifies, and how much

• You must be a passport holder staying in the mainland for no more than 183 consecutive days.
• Minimum spend: RMB 500 on the same day at the same tax-free store.
• The purchase must be made within 90 days of departure.
• The maximum refund rate is 11%, and 8% for some categories of goods.

The April 2025 nationwide “instant refund” upgrade cut the threshold to RMB 200 at participating outlets, doubled the maximum cash refund to RMB 20,000, allowed refunds to Alipay, WeChat Pay and bank cards, and brought more than 7,200 outlets into the scheme. Beijing raised its own service limit to RMB 220,000 and extended eligibility from 17 to 28 days. Refund users in the first half of 2025 rose 186% year on year.

The procedure, in order

1. Shop at a store displaying a “Tax Free” or “Tax Refund” sign.
2. Ask for the Tax Refund Application Form and the VAT invoice — the fapiao.
3. Before check-in, take the goods, invoices, forms and your passport to the customs counter for stamping.
4. Claim at the refund desk after security.

Refunds of RMB 10,000 or less can be paid in cash or by transfer; above RMB 10,000 they are bank transfer only. Counters operate at Shanghai Hongqiao Terminal 1 and Pudong Terminals 1 and 2 plus the satellite terminal, and at both cruise terminals.

The fapiao is the whole refund

The fapiao (发票) is China’s official VAT invoice. It is not the same thing as a till receipt, and without it there is no claim. Ask for it explicitly at the counter, and keep the goods unused and in their packaging for customs inspection.

The backup plan, in one line

A physical Visa or Mastercard, plus RMB 500–1,000 in cash, plus both Alipay and WeChat Pay configured before departure with two different cards bound. Every one of those elements has failed for somebody.

If your connectivity is the weak link rather than your cards, our internet and apps guide covers eSIM routing and what to install before you fly, and the visa and entry rules explain the arrival formalities that go with them.

Where we are unsure

Payment rules decay faster than anything else on this site. The transaction and annual limits conflict between official and vendor sources. Whether Alipay accepts American Express is inconsistent. e-CNY eligibility for foreign visitors is unresolved, and ATM caps are unverified. We have flagged each of these rather than averaging them, and we re-check this page quarterly.