My sincere apologies if this has been answered somewhere already but this thread is way too long to read it all. I’m about to head to mainland China in about ten days and am getting a bit nervous the closer it gets. Payment and the ability to use DIDI are my main concerns.

I’ve managed to set up WeChat pay with both an Australian Amex and VISA linked to my account. No such luck with Alipay which always tells me that my passport cannot be verified (this worked all very well with WeChat, somehow). I’ve managed to make a couple of test payments here in Australia using WeChat pay (aware of the fees but I wanted to try at least) and they worked well. Yesterday, I bought tickets on the Shanghai Disneyland app and while the payment did not get through with the associated Amex, selecting the Visa card went well. I don’t have a deposit or anything on this account and don’t believe it’s needed, those payments went through to my Australian credit cards (plus the rather high fee) instantly.

My questions now- does this mean I can be relatively save that these payments will work as well at various vendors once I am in China? Any advice on why Alipay might not work for me? Anything else I should be prepared for?

And finally, probably most important, DiDi: I’m aware that the Australian app won’t work in China but the Chinese version at the moment does not seem to have an English translation anymore (it used to I believe). However, going through WeChat, I end up on the Chinese DiDi app in English translation which is great. Payment this way is always via WeChat pay so in line with the above, will this work with my current set up? DiDi is quite important for me as I don’t want to deal with taxis and believe it will be not only more convenient but also cheaper.

NB: I’ve learnt a little bit of Mandarin over the past three years but it’s nowhere near to enter pick up and drop off locations using Chinese characters so the English version will be essential. Any advise and tips I’d be ever so grateful!