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Alipay & WeChat Pay
“This requires a Chinese bank card”
Last verified 2026-10
Why this happens
You tried to do something foreign-card tourist mode can't do: P2P transfer to a person, red packet (hongbao), in-app balance top-up, or paying a personal (non-merchant) QR code. These require a Chinese bank account by design.
How to fix it
- 1
Pay the person in cash instead — P2P transfers aren't possible with a foreign card.
- 2
If paying a small vendor, ask if they have a merchant/business QR code (most do). Merchant codes work with foreign cards; personal codes don't.
- 3
Skip red packets — they're a social feature, not a payment necessity.
- 4
For everything else (retail, food, transport, hotels), your foreign card works fine — keep using it.
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