How to Pay in China as a Foreigner (2026): Alipay, WeChat Pay, Cards, Cash
Ten minutes of setup before you land makes every metro gate, taxi and noodle stall in Hubei just work.
The short version
Install Alipay, register with your home phone number, and add your Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB or Discover card under Account → Bank Cards, verifying with a passport photo. Do the same in WeChat (Weixin) Pay as a backup — some tiny stalls only take WeChat. The old Alipay 'Tour Pass' was shut down in 2026; direct card binding replaced it.
Fees and limits
- Payments under ¥200: no foreign-card fee on either app.
- Payments over ¥200: about 3% — the ¥200 threshold is per transaction, so splitting a bill legally avoids it.
- New international-card users get a fee-waiver window on daily spending (60–90 days, up to ¥1,000 per payment) after the first successful transaction.
- Single-payment cap is roughly ¥35,000; annual cap near ¥350,000 for passport-verified users.
What Alipay unlocks
Inside Alipay: 'Transport' gives you the Wuhan Metro QR (¥2–7 a ride); 'DiDi' is an English-interface taxi app that charges automatically; 'Bike' unlocks the yellow and blue shared bikes (¥1.5 per 30 minutes) that make the East Lake greenway possible; the ferry gates across the Yangtze scan the same QR.
Cash still matters
Withdraw ¥500–1,000 at an ICBC or Bank of China ATM in the airport arrivals hall. By law every vendor must accept RMB cash, and you will want small notes for temple donations, a village stall in Enshi, or the day your phone dies. Hotels can break large notes.
Cards and ATMs
International chain hotels, airports and large malls accept Visa and Mastercard directly. Almost nothing else does. UnionPay-branded ATMs of the big four banks (ICBC, BOC, CCB, ABC) take foreign cards; expect a ¥20–30 fee plus your bank's.