Originally Posted by GloballyServiced

AliPay has tourist pass which you can use a foreign credit card. I use my chase sapphire reserve.

Many merchants can directly charge your credit card through the tourist pass QR code of your credit card. In the unusual instances where it rejects the foreign CC, you can load money onto your tour pass “debit card” QR code for a 5% transaction fee. Even merchants that definitely cannot swipe any foreign CC in the literal sense can still usually charge your foreign CC through tourist pass. I use it at convenience stores, small localish restaurants, even in tier 2 or 3 cities. I check my chass statements and there’s no fee or markup when they directly charge your tourist pass CC

I use aliPay far more often than WeChat pay.

If you’re not living here full time then just use aliPay and cash. If you’re living here full time then get a bank account at a local bank. China merchant bank took about 1 hour to open me an account with passport, employment contract, phone number with name verification.

HSBC was surprisingly awful to try to work with.