Yes. You can either link a foreign cc directly to Didi or add one to WeChat pay, and use it from there. We have another thread on Wechat Pay/Alipay, but you should look into getting a Chinese bank account if you spend a lot of time in China.

Thanks for the advice!

I spend a total of about 2-3 weeks a year in China, so far I have not felt the need for a bank account, but I can see that day is coming.

It is amazing how much China has changed over the years, I go back to the days of FEC. Most of you probably don't even know what that is, or should I say was!

OP, get a dedicated phone and install all apps on that. China Telecom has a 3Yuan sim card. Put 100Y on it and don't let it expire. Verizon/Sprint unlocked phones are compatible with China Telecom.

Mobile and Unicom also have cheap plans, though think Y10 instead of Y3. All 3 offer similar voice and data quality from this layman's perspective, but have different strengths with respect to coverage areas. For example, my cousin used to work at an auto plant in Shenyang, and only Telecom got a decent signal there (so that's what he used), but Telecom happens to be terrible inside many office buildings in Shanghai. I use Unicom myself because it's pretty good in major cities, and maybe a little cheaper than Mobile, but Mobile tends to be the best of the 3 once you get (pretty far) off the beaten path. My point is, it doesn't matter how cheap your plan is if you can't use it.

Yeah. For those unlucky ones with poor coverage inside their offices, your choices are limited. I have tried all three in several cities in both north and south, they made no difference to me. Telecom is the most compatible with my phones and it happens to be the cheapest. Always 4 bars wherever I go.

Do these low cost plans support receiving SMS messages overseas, specifically while roaming in the USA? Can I get a link to the plan?

So long as you can open international roaming you'll be able to receive SMSs free.

Used to be there were a lot of restrictions on this: you had to make a large deposit or otherwise satisfy the telco creditwise before you could open overseas roaming. But that's changed and for CM at least opening roaming is normally not a problem,

But the plans are complicated and who can say whether there's a catch with any particular telco or plan. No substitute for asking at the shop.

I've never had a SIM that couldn't receive SMS, even during the period when service is suspended （停机） but the number hasn't been completely shut down yet （过期 or 不存在）. Assuming you have an active SIM, you can adjust plans online, via Wechat, by calling your provider, or by visiting a physical shop.

I believe post-paid plans provide international roaming. Prepaid ones do not. My 3Y plan is prepaid. This overseas roaming feature is useless to me as I am only on the sim card while in China anyway.

The specific card I purchased few years ago is no longer issued. But it's quite similar to this:

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Unicom used to have a 5Y plan, but I cannot find it on their website anymore. You can go to a Unicom store on the street and ask for the 5Y plan. Unicom is the most compatible as they are GSM.

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think my current plan is postpaid, and I have no issues with global roaming. IIRC, I had to call Unicom once to activate it. I don't believe roaming needs to be activated in order to receive SMS. Are there any advantages to postpaid these days? The last time I knowingly had a postpaid plan was about 8 years ago. It must have made financial sense for me at the time, but at some point I switched back to prepaid, and the rates continued to plummet, so I had no motivation to go into a service center and wait around for 25 minutes just to get back on postpaid.

No, I have a prepaid plan with China Mobile and I have international roaming and free receipt of SMSs outside China. Very handy! Up until two years or so ago, that was not possible without making a big deposit, but they changed the rules, though you have to activate international service.

A couple of years ago I checked into switching to a China Unicom prepay, and they had also switched to no-deposit-required international roaming.

Point is, it can be impossible to use things like online banking outside the Mainland if you can't receive SMSs.

Apparently the latest directive is that effective December 1st, your photo will be taken as part of the application / ID verification process.

Color me shocked:D

But will the entire country be required to re-register? That would be a real hassle, especially for those outside the Mainland.

I would doubt that. This is just another redundant piece to the data puzzle.