Best apps for foreign visitors in China and which are useless – like Google Maps.
By Mark Andrews
South China Morning Post.
13/08/2023
WeChat and Alipay might both have made it easier for foreigners to pay for things in China recently, but visitors still face many hurdles to a successful trip
Ten years ago, tourists visiting China would have been struck by the cash-based nature of its society. But the country has since gone full swing, leapfrogging the use of credit and debit cards to run on a system based almost exclusively on phones.
However, a big problem for visitors had been that it was difficult to link foreign bank cards to the ubiquitous WeChat and Alipay QR payment systems.
That was, until recently. In July, both WeChat and Alipay began allowing users to link international cards to their payment systems. (Alipay is operated by Alibaba, which owns the Post.)
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