China skipped credit cards. It went from cash straight to QR codes in the 2010s, and the overwhelming majority of urban transactions now run through Alipay or WeChat Pay. Card terminals exist, but outside international-facing businesses they mostly accept UnionPay, the domestic network, rather than Visa or Mastercard.
Practically: your card will work at the Hilton, at the airport, and at a restaurant with an English menu and white tablecloths. It will not work at the noodle shop, the temple ticket window, the metro, the bike share or the market.
What to do instead#
Link the card inside Alipay. Since 2023 Alipay and WeChat Pay both accept foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners and Discover cards from visitors, which lets you pay by QR code exactly as a local does.
- Install Alipay before you fly — it is on both the App Store and Google Play.
- Register with your real mobile number and complete passport identity verification.
- Add your card under Me → Bank Cards.
- Do all of this at home, because verification can require an SMS code to a working number.
Alipay currently charges around 3% on transactions above ¥200 and nothing below it. Most of a normal day — meals, metro, coffee, entry tickets — falls under that threshold and costs nothing extra.
Carry some cash#
¥500–1,000 covers rural buses, temple donation boxes, the occasional stubborn ticket window and a dead phone battery. Chinese law requires merchants to accept cash and most will, though many genuinely struggle to change a ¥100 note because they have not handled cash in years.
ATMs at Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China accept foreign cards. Withdraw larger amounts less often — fees are per transaction.
Hong Kong is the exception#
Contactless Visa and Mastercard work everywhere in Hong Kong, which is a separate currency and payment zone. If your itinerary includes it, that leg needs no workaround at all.
The complete setup, fees and failure modes are in our money and payments guide.