Originally Posted by deltame

Just to add another data point (in case this would help someone who's traveling to China). I used discover card in China this Spring at a large chain superstore. After the card was swiped, they asked me to enter a PIN then press enter. I simply pressed "enter" alone to bypass the PIN, then signed for the receipt. The transaction went through just fine. I had heard from another source that entering "0000" could also work but didn't try that with my discover card. I have not used an US issued Visa or Mastercard card in China, so cannot comment on whether skipping the PIN would work for V/MC over there. I can test this again using my Schwab Visa during my next visit to China.