Originally Posted by ElevatorEnthusiast

I would assume that transactions won't code as the merchants - the amounts I was transacting in (a metro ride is like 56 US cents) meant that I wasn't concerned about rewards earning. In situations where you can use a physical card (i.e. hotels - the largest percentage of my travel spend), it would make sense to use a physical card to avoid possible AP / WX transaction fees and to lower your year AP / WX foreign card spend (I believe there is a limit at some point per year).

I did not buy a transit card - the QR code worked just fine on Shanghai Metro - you do have to enter your passport number, etc, to get it provisioned. I did this in the station, but it would make sense to do it once you get to Shanghai but before the ticket gate.

As for steps, I don't really remember - I just found "Bank Cards" or something similar and started typing the numbers, etc. I also made sure to find Identity Verification and complete that with passport photo upload.