How to Pay in China as an International Traveller in 2026

Set up Alipay and WeChat Pay before you fly

Both are free to download and can be set up with a foreign Visa or Mastercard, but the sequence matters: download the app, complete identity verification with your passport and the credit card you intend to use, and then bind a second, different card for payment where the app allows it. Doing this before departure avoids the friction of doing it in a queue.

Alipay is more widely accepted in mainland China and is the app most travellers end up relying on. WeChat Pay is more integrated into daily life — small vendors, transport, and most restaurants below a certain price.

In practice, many travellers end up with a small balance on one app and use the other for larger purchases. Setting both up is ten minutes and removes the problem entirely.

Cards and fees

UnionPay cards issued outside China work widely, including at the major hotels and at the large state-run retail chains. Visa and Mastercard work in most hotels, restaurants and shops at tourist locations, but not universally in smaller establishments or at the railway ticket machines.

Check whether your card carries a foreign transaction fee. A 1.5 to 3 per cent fee on every transaction erases a lot of the value of the exchange rate and is entirely avoidable with the right card.

One important detail: in China, the card is charged in the local currency. The conversion happens on the card issuer’s side, so check the issuer’s rate before you travel.

Where cash is still needed

Cash remains necessary in a few specific situations: smaller markets and rural areas, temple donations and entrance fees at minor sites, the older street markets, and a few of the older bus and ferry systems. Small notes and coins are more useful than large denominations.

The ATM network is dense in the major cities. Look for the agricultural bank and the China Construction Bank networks, and withdraw from a bank counter inside a branch rather than from a standalone ATM where the fees are higher.

Tipping and pricing

Tipping is not customary in China and is not expected at restaurants, taxis or in hotels. Service charges are included. In practice, a modest tip is welcomed at a good restaurant, particularly where a group has been looked after for a long time, but it is entirely optional.

Local prices are understood to be fixed. It is rare to bargain, and in a restaurant or a taxi it is not appropriate to attempt it.

The 3 per cent fee nobody mentions

Binding a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay is free, the limits are generous — USD 5,000 per transaction and USD 50,000 a year, set by the regulator, not the app — and small payments cost nothing. Above 200 yuan, though, a 3 per cent service fee applies, and it is charged on the whole transaction rather than the excess.

That cliff edge is worth understanding properly, because it is not a rounding error. A 199-yuan dinner is free of the fee. A 201-yuan dinner costs 3 per cent on all 201 yuan, about six yuan. A 2,000-yuan hotel bill paid through the wallet costs 60 yuan more than the same bill paid by physical card at the desk.

The practical response is not to avoid the wallet: it is to know where the threshold sits. Split larger payments across taps under 200 yuan where the merchant allows it — normal at markets, food courts and many restaurants — and pay hotel folios and big retail bills by physical card or UnionPay, where the 3 per cent does not apply. WeChat Pay has also run new-user promotions that waive the fee for a period after a first foreign card is linked; check the terms inside the app, because they change.

This is also the strongest argument for setting both wallets up. If one rail charges or fails at a specific merchant, the other usually will not.

The tax refund

The departure tax refund is more accessible than most visitors assume, and the numbers changed substantially in 2025. The minimum spend is 200 yuan in a single tax-refund store on a single day — down from 500 yuan in April 2025 — which brings ordinary shopping into range rather than just luxury purchases. You need your passport at the counter, the goods unused and carried out with you, and departure within 90 days of purchase.

The refund rate is 11 per cent on goods taxed at 13 per cent and 8 per cent on goods taxed at 9 per cent, minus the agency’s handling fee, so a 480-yuan purchase returns roughly 38 yuan. Cash refunds are capped at 20,000 yuan per person; anything above that is paid by bank transfer.

The bigger change is “buy and refund immediately”, now nationwide: instead of waiting until the airport, you take the refund at the store against a credit-card pre-authorisation, then have it released when customs verifies the goods on departure. Refund wallets including Alipay are supported, so the money can arrive in minutes and be spent again on the same trip. Paperless processing and spot checks rather than mandatory inspection for claims under 10,000 yuan have cut airport queue times considerably since July 2026.

One limit to plan around: the instant-refund scheme requires departure within 28 days of purchase, which is shorter than the 90 days allowed on the standard route. If your trip is longer than four weeks after a big purchase, take the airport route instead.