Originally Posted by
plunet
2. Even though your tour is all inclusive you might want to buy a few things for yourself. In which case having some cash (accepted in places where Western tourists tread) or setting up WeChat pay or AliPay. You can probably survive with cash as you're on a tour, but if you venture off into
"real" China then the payment apps become pretty much a necessity.
Opinion: without Alipay and Wechat Pay, you are screwed in Shanghail
Regardless of what that phrase which I bolded might mean, I still don't have any..."real" issues using cash.
However, two things I am noticing more and more (and that should come as a shock to no one):
- occasionally, businesses don't have small change. whatever, they're usually up front about it.
- the already irritating metro systems are further worsening, as many are eliminating all but one/maybe two ticket machines that accepts cash, and are forcing those cash users to try and find a customer service desk.
OTOH, this may have been mentioned upthread, but Beijing and Guangzhou metros seem to accept foreign Visa/Mastercard now. I bet Shanghai is already there, too (but it wasn't last summer).