Ok cheers guys. I will go ahead and buy a Chinese sim when I return. The roaming eSIM worked, but there were some problems with payments. The lebara sim would have been all I’d needed apart from the Apple thing and a few app issues. Luckily next September, my wife will be travelling with me, so her phone can bare the Chinese sim. Will just need to work out which VPN will give her WhatsApp etc. The Windscribe and PiA VPNs just didn’t work. She can also load her Monzo card to widen our options and significantly reduce Alipay concerns….. plus we’ll be able to order ahead food on the trains, which I was unable to do.