Almost every practical instruction on this site eventually arrives at the same place: open WeChat or Alipay, find the venue's mini-programme, book there. It is how you get into the Forbidden City, how the Dunhuang Academy sells the Mogao Caves, how a coach seat is bought in a small town, how a lost bag is registered with the railway.
Nobody explains what it is, so here it is.
An app that runs inside another app#
A mini-programme — 小程序 (xiǎo chéngxù, "small programme") — is a self-contained application that runs inside WeChat or Alipay rather than on your phone.
You do not download it. You do not create an account with it. It has no icon on your home screen and it does not appear in your app store. You open the host app, find the mini-programme, use it, and close it. The next time you need it, you find it again.
The consequence is the thing worth internalising: China did not build a separate app for every institution — it built one inside the app everyone already has. A provincial museum, a bus operator, a hospital, a bike-share fleet and a government service line can each have a fully functional booking system without ever persuading you to install anything.
Which is why "scan this" is the default#
Two ways in, and the second explains a lot about the country.
Search the host app. Open WeChat or Alipay, use the search bar at the top, type the venue's name — usually in Chinese — and the mini-programme appears alongside ordinary results.
Scan a QR code. A QR code on a table, a ticket window, a bus stop or a museum sign opens the relevant mini-programme directly. This is why QR codes are on every surface in China and why the standard instruction is "scan it": the code is not a link to a website, it is the door to a small application.
That is also why a Chinese venue often has no bookable website worth the name. The mini-programme is the booking system, and the venue's own channel is the one to use precisely because the alternative is a reseller.
Why it asks for your passport number#
The site tells you repeatedly that Chinese bookings are real-name and that the document you booked with is checked at the gate. The reason sits one level below the venue.
China's Provisions on the Administration of Mobile Internet Application Information Services, issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China on 14 June 2022 and in force since 1 August 2022, put mini-programme platforms squarely inside the regulated category:
通过互联网提供应用程序发布、下载、动态加载等服务的活动，包括应用商店、快应用中心、互联网小程序平台、浏览器插件平台等类型
Application distribution services — app stores, quick-app centres, internet mini-programme platforms and browser plug-in platforms alike — are covered. And the same provisions require providers to authenticate users against real identity information, by mobile number, identity document number or unified social credit code, and to withhold service from anyone who does not supply it.
So the passport field is not the museum being officious. It is a platform-level obligation the museum is downstream of, which is why it appears identically at a cave temple, a coach station and a lost-property desk.
Where it goes wrong for a foreign visitor#
Three failure modes, in the order you will meet them.
- The interface is in Chinese. Many mini-programmes have no English toggle. Screenshot and translate, or use the browser translate function — the app-by-app substitutions cover which tools actually work behind the filter.
- The identity field expects a Chinese ID. Well-built ones offer a passport option in a dropdown; poorly built ones validate against the 18-digit resident ID format and simply refuse you. There is no workaround beyond finding another channel or a counter.
- Some accept Chinese-issued cards only. This is the limitation to plan around rather than to be surprised by — what a foreign card can and cannot do inside Alipay sets out where the wall is.
Install both wallets#
Some mini-programmes exist only inside WeChat, others only inside Alipay, and the choice is the venue's rather than yours. A museum may be WeChat-only while the metro pass and the bike share sit in Alipay.
That is the concrete reason behind advice that otherwise sounds like belt-and-braces: two wallets is not redundancy, it is coverage.
Frequently asked questions#
What is a WeChat mini-programme?#
An application that runs inside WeChat rather than on your phone. You do not install it or register with it separately — you open WeChat, find it by search or by scanning a QR code, use it, and close it. Alipay has the same system, and Chinese institutions use both as their main public-facing channel.
How do I find a mini-programme in China?#
Search the venue's name in the WeChat or Alipay search bar, usually in Chinese, or scan the QR code displayed at the venue, on the table or at the ticket window. Scanning is the normal route, which is why QR codes are everywhere.
Why does a Chinese booking ask for my passport number?#
Because mini-programme platforms are covered by China's mobile application provisions, in force since 1 August 2022, which require providers to authenticate users against real identity information and to withhold service from those who do not supply it. The venue is applying a platform obligation, not its own policy.
Do mini-programmes work with a foreign passport?#
Often, but not always. Better-built ones let you select passport as the document type; some validate only against the Chinese resident ID format and will reject you. When that happens the answer is another channel — a counter, or the venue's website — rather than a workaround.
Do I need WeChat and Alipay both?#
In practice yes. Mini-programmes are tied to whichever platform the venue chose, so a museum in one and a bike share in the other is a normal day. Installing both costs nothing and removes a whole category of problem.