Carrying a large amount of cash in China is a solution to a problem that no longer exists, and it creates a new one — you become someone with a lot of cash. Nearly nine in ten urban transactions run through a QR code, and the fix for a foreign visitor is to join that system rather than opt out of it.
Where cash still genuinely helps#
- Rural and intercity buses, especially away from the main tourist routes
- Temple donation boxes, which are cash by nature
- The occasional stubborn ticket window at a small scenic site
- A dead phone battery — this is the real one. Your phone is your wallet, so a flat battery is not an inconvenience, it is being unable to pay for anything
- Merchants using a personal-account QR code, which foreign cards sometimes cannot pay
¥500–1,000 covers all of that comfortably for a two-week trip.
Getting cash there, not before#
Skip the exchange bureau at home; the rate is poor. Withdraw on arrival from an airport ATM.
The reliable banks for foreign cards are Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China — look for the Visa/Plus or Mastercard/Cirrus logo. Withdrawal limits run ¥2,000–3,000 per transaction, and fees are charged per transaction by both your bank and often the Chinese one, so take larger amounts less often.
Tell your bank you are travelling first. A Chinese ATM withdrawal is a textbook fraud trigger.
The real preparation is Alipay#
Set this up before you fly, because verification can require an SMS code to a working number:
- Install Alipay and complete passport identity verification
- Link a Visa or Mastercard
- Alipay charges around 3% above ¥200 and nothing below, so most of a normal day costs nothing extra
Once that works, you pay for street food, metro rides, museum tickets and taxis exactly as a local does.
Notes and change#
Notes run ¥1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. The ¥100 is the workhorse and the one small vendors struggle to change — break it at a supermarket or convenience store rather than at a noodle stall.
Counterfeit ¥100 notes still circulate and are most often passed to tourists in change. Feel for the raised ink on the collar of Mao's jacket, and tilt the note to see the denomination shift colour.
The complete payment setup, including what to do when a QR payment fails, is in our money and payments guide.