Before you go
How to link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay
China's mobile payment works for short-term visitors: international Visa, Mastercard, JCB, AmEx and Discover cards can be linked to Alipay or WeChat Pay with just a passport. No Chinese bank account, no Chinese phone number required.
Steps
- Install Alipay or WeChat, open Me → Wallet/Settings → Cards → Add card.
- Enter your international card number and expiry date.
- Identity verification asks for your passport number — the passport name must match the cardholder name.
- Pay by scanning any merchant QR code.
Good to know
- Transactions above a small monthly cumulative threshold carry roughly a 3% service fee; smaller amounts are fee-free.
- Cards issued in some regions are rejected entirely — if linking fails repeatedly, try the other wallet first.
- Some services (in-app top-ups, some vending machines) still require a Chinese card; cash or card terminals cover most of those.
- If a payment fails at the counter, show the phrase card in the ChinaPass guide — it asks the clerk for a cash alternative in Chinese.
The ChinaPass app walks through this with screenshots and a troubleshooting section for every common failure (card rejected, SMS never arrives, QR won't scan) — fully offline.