May be worth it in some instances. You have no idea how much coins I have accrued over the years.

As the contactless ticketing is mostly a Covid policy, I would presume things would change if the borders were to open. For the time being a foreign tourist can't even get into the country, let alone buy a ticket.

1. I used to disdain coins, but they are irrelevant after you stop carrying ANY cash (let's save trees)
2. The new smaller Y1 coins don't work in many vending machines, so if you do use cash at convenience stores, ask for the old ones

I've been going to China since 2007. I can only use credit cards where they're accepted. Other than that, it's been cash. Next time I go back, I gotta find a way to at least turn the coins to paper currency. You got any idea? I got an entire jug full of PRC coins!

No that’s not correct I’ll try to be more clear this time. On AliPay tourist pass function, you get two QR codes that merchants can scan:

1. direct charge to your foreign card. For me this is my chase sapphire reserve. The payment amount is directly charged to your credit card through aliPay at today’s exchange rate with no fees or markup. Even merchants that cannot swipe foreign CC can do this. I have never had this fail once in Shanghai for any merchant that can scan aliPay QR codes.I used this at Lawsons in Jing An just yesterday to buy 2 ice cream cones.

2. a makeshift aliPay debit card. You can load RMB onto this from your foreign credit card for a 5% fee. I only use this about once every 2-3 weeks when option 1 fails. It is generally in a smaller city in a small cheap merchant where I’m not worried about spending a few RMB in markup fee.


For option 2 above I could also use WeChat pay to save the fee. But for me I’m paid in USD to my American accounts so the only way I get money into my WeChat account is doing a stupid cash + deposit thing since I’d prefer not linking up with my Chinese bank. I’m perfectly fine to eat a few bucks per month on aliPay fees to be able to manage everything through chase. And if someone is actually a tourist or even short term resident this seems far easier than dealing with a China sim, a second phone, and a bank account where you’re going to have minimal fun setting those up if you can’t speak Chinese.

I'm assuming option 1 works with any credit card including Citi?

I'm wondering why in certain cases option 1 doesn't work and have to resort to option 2?

Yeah I was mystified when I first realized you could directly charge CC. Never thought that would be possible.

Tourist Pass is just one of the features on the standard aliPay app. It’s in the top left portion of the app when you open it. Unfortunately all of the charges code as “shopping”

There’s probably not a ton of info available online but setup was very straightforward.

GloballyServiced?

I do not know the answer to those, but I assume it’s some way that the merchant is setup. I’m happy with my success ratio though.

Alipay is a separate app and available on iOS and Android? Again, I have no experience with this and just missed your response. Will AMEX work? I rather use a different card than CSR if everything codes as "shopping". I'm assuming the charges are in CNY/RMB and then Chase converts it to USD?

I am a guy who did Valuemags (back in the day), and bought a van (paid off within a week) solely to do dollar coins.

With the 5% bar, someone would need to do something extremely stupid in order to create a useful opportunity.

Yea it’s just an iOS app. I would not count on Amex working.



By the time China opens up to tourism or even business travel, this will likely all be different though. Not to be a Debbie downer but it’s going to be a long time.

I get it, but I don't think it hurt to ask right now.

Are you in China at the moment? You got an AMEX? Maybe you can test it since you are earning 1 UR per USD. I'm assuming the charges are in CNY/RMB and then Chase converts it to USD?

I am indeed here but I don’t have an Amex personally. I believe you could try to set it up from abroad and load 100RMB if you’re super eager to test it ahead of time. But like I said I rarely use the pre-loaded top up method because it’s not usually needed and you lose 5%.

That's option 2. I meant with option 1 and then buy something from say Family Mart. Would love to know if it it'll work with AMEX and avoid the 5% fee.

I'm assuming the charges are in CNY/RMB and then Chase converts it to USD?