Can't agree with this. As a non-local/non-resident who steadfastly refuses to use any QR payments anywhere, it's abhorrent to see how mobile phones have nearly completely taken over the country. Not to mention, having the entire country take the same vacation time ... still.

Couldn't use some vending machines without wechat/alipay, some vendors charges more without those things, and cash-only queues in stores are often squirrelled away in some forlorn area. At least a few Guangzhou Vanguard supermarkets randomly accepted my credit card.

OTOH, I can't complain too much about passports serving as THE train ticket. Haven't tried buying an attraction ticket through trip.com yet, so I wonder how it would work when visiting the Forbidden City, or Huangshan.

Plus, even though there is internet almost everywhere (hint: the password is usually 88888888), it still sucks if you're reliant on certain non-Chinese email clients. My VPNs cut out often, or didn't work at all.

In unrelated news, I'm curious if a PRD (not calling it by its new moniker the "greater bay area") transit card is in the works. If it weren't for Dongguan slacking off, one could get from Luo Hu to Foshan by metro. Silly, but almost doable.