Told you need a Chinese bank card

What's happening

Some merchants and transaction types only accept Chinese bank cards — notably P2P transfers to individuals, red packets (hongbao), and a few personal QR-code payments. Tourist-mode foreign cards simply can't do these. This isn't an account problem; it's a feature limitation of foreign-card tourist mode.

Steps to fix it

1. 1Accept that foreign-card tourist mode can't do P2P transfers or red packets — these require a Chinese bank account.
2. 2For paying a person (not a merchant): ask them to use a merchant code instead, or pay them cash.
3. 3For red packets: skip them — they're a social feature, not a payment necessity.
4. 4For everything else (retail, food, transport, hotels), your foreign card works fine — keep using it.
5. 5If you genuinely need a Chinese bank account, ICBC and Bank of China allow foreigners to open accounts with a passport, but it takes a few hours at a branch and isn't worth it for a short trip.