Visiting China with Proper Payment and Connectivity

This is an article to share my experience when I visited China Chengdu (famous for pandas) for a vacation tour with my family. A lot has changed since Covid, and I thought it would be good to share how it is like now (December 2023) to travel into China as a foreigner for vacation purposes.

(Photo by Pascal Müller on Unsplash)

I am a Mandarin speaking Chinese Singaporean, so language is not a problem for me. But with the China great firewall, my visit into China may be very miserable if I am unable to connect with many of the network services that I am so used to. So I think it is important to ensure that I am still able to connect to the outside of China when my entire family is in there.

Before leaving for China, I have prepared three means of connectivity. First a SIM card that provides data roaming in China. You can purchase these SIM cards from various online retailers such as Shopee and Lazada. I used ICC SIM card that provides mobile data roaming in China, and it also provides a VPN gateway to the external networks. This would mean you can still access services such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Amazon and others. The SIM card will usually provide a fixed base capacity for a period of time, and if you exceed the capacity, you will then have far lower speed but the network will still be available. I bought a SIM card with 12GB data for 12 days.

(Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash)

The second method I have prepared is similar and that is eSIM. Again, I bought an eSIM subscription that provides 12GB of data for 12 days. This is also from ICC and since this is a network service, you would need to make sure your mobile phone is compatible with the eSIM supported. Make sure that you turn on moble data roaming when you setup the eSIM. Instructions is usually provided via an email.

The third method I have prepared is a VPN subscription. I was planning to use the VPN service while my devices are connected via WiFi in the hotels that I am staying. Unfortunately, the VPN service which I have subscribed does not work at all. I have used ExpressVPN some years ago while I was in China but this time it does not work at all. So, if you are keen to use WiFi connectity to the external network, you would need to check that it is still working. Nevertheless, I do not recommend this method as most of the tourist hotels WiFi do not have high throughput. It is far faster to use the mobile data network.

For Apple device owners, WiFi works for you. All the Apple services can be accessed via the local hotel WiFi networks. I can update App Store applications, and even upgrade iOS on my iPhone. Apple Music and TV also works (however, I did not try Apple Arcade games). One of a nice integration is with my Apple watch. I have a Weather complication to show the “My Location” temperature, and it works whether my iPhone is connected via WiFi in the hotel or via SIM outside the hotel.

(Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash)

After connectivity, the next most important thing is payment. China is famous for its mobile payment maturity so much so that cash payment is discouraged. Essentially, you can use either WeChat Pay or Alipay. Since I have a permanent problem with WeChat (after my multiple previous failed attempts to reset my WeChat account based on my mobile number), I could only use Alipay for my payments in China. Setting up Alipay is easy, just download the mobile application to your mobile phone and setup a credit card as your “Bank Card”. Both VISA and MasterCard credit cards can be used. You are encouraged to have multiple bank cards set up before you leave for China. Note that your mobile device must have data roaming connectivity established. Also, there is usually no way you can test the Alipay functionality in a foreign country. Your country may have merchants that accept Alipay transactions from China tourists, but their bank cards are not the same as yours. In fact, there are some restrictions on using your Alipay mobile application to pay for goods where the seller is using their personal China bank card. More on this later.

So, how do you pay with Alipay? There are primarily two ways: the merchant presents a bar code for you to scan with Alipay (and then you enter the payment amount) or you present a bar code from your Alipay mobile application to the sales counter staff (for them to scan). In the screenshot above, the top row of buttons is where you invoke the payment processing. You hit the Scan button to activate your mobile device camera to “scan” the merchant bar code, while you hit the Pay/Receive button to let them scan your bar code (shown in the earlier picture).

You might feel safer with the former method, but if you enter the wrong amount, there is going to be more trouble (which should be avoided if you cannot speak Mandarin). The latter method is actually preferred as it is usually done via the POS system the merchant is using, and it is faster and more accurate. For both methods, the transaction details will be available in the Alipay application.

So, what can you pay with Alipay? Essentially almost everything you need as a tourist or a foreign visitor. I paid for a meal at the airport, ordered Luckin coffee (China competitor to Starbucks), bought some food stuff, and even pay my tour guide for some of the extra charges. Note that there may be some sellers whom may present their Alipay local bank account bar code, which our Alipay would not work. So, avoid buying incidentals from individuals who peddle their goods to sell to you. You might need cash to get out of the sticky situation especially if you are buying a perishable item (like food or fruits). Alipay is also able to pay for transit, although I did not have the chance to try that.

I did have a difficult incident in paying my tour guide. The amount was somehow larger than others and my bank requires authorization from my bank mobile application. So, it is important that your bank mobile application work properly in China. One of my credit cards did not work as the authorization request failed to get through to me in the mobile application, while the other worked because it uses SMS to send me a one time PIN to authorize the transaction.

I hope the above article would help you in China. There are of course plenty of YouTube videos to guide foreigners in China. But many of them are so used to their conveniences that they may ignore some minute but important details. Hope you have an enjoyable and fun trip in China.