Why do you feel that the card useless for all purposes? Would you use another credit card for non-Alipay/WeChat Pay purchases? The original reason I got this card was to avoid DCC in Mainland China. The Alipay Tour Pass wasn't a thing at the time I got the card, and a couple of pre-2020 field tests worked well. Without access to a local bank account, I'm unsure that I'd want to pay the fee that the Alipay Tour Pass now charges, but I'd also question Visa/MC acceptance. Is DCC still as much of an issue as it was 10+ years ago? I've only had one Visa transaction in Mainland China (with all other card transactions being UnionPay or Amex), so I don't have many recent data points.

In post 13, I was trying to brainstorm cases in which a UnionPay card might be an option while non-UP Visa/MC/Amex would not.

But, most merchants in other categories where you're likely to spend more than Y1000 accept non-UP Visa/MC/Amex, and DCC isn't so common anymore e.g.
1. Ctrip (I feel bad for using a single company instead of the category here, but if I just said "travel agencies", we'd run into some exceptions)
2. Chained hotels
3. Airlines
4. Restaurants where the average pp spend is >~250 (these are probably the highest risk for DCC, but it's still not prevalent in the whole)
5. Stores in class-A shopping malls

The short of it is, unless you're into 50k KTV outings or dining at expensive restaurants that rarely see foreigners (these do exist, to be sure), I don't think you'll have any regrets if you leave your ICBC UnionPay card at home.

But if my MC levies a FX surcharge for all transactions not in Euro, wouldn't it make sense to use a Unionpay card linked to a RMB bank account ?

FYI : the banking system in Europe is not free, like that in the US. We pay for the luxury of having a bank account, and pay for having a credit (delayed debit) card, if the bank is kind enough to issue us one. So hefty FX fees are normal.

My last trip to China I just paid for everything with Alipay and don't want to bother asking for a POS. I didn't end up using this card at all and will probably leave it at home next time.
The ICBC US UnionPay is treated as a foreign card: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35226838-post370.html

You don't need to use Tour Pass anymore as you can directly link foreign cards to Alipay (but there's a 3% transaction fee for purchases over Y200. This will also get charged with the UnionPay card)
The card is denominated in USD anyway and I'd rather earn 1 UR from CSR than 1% cashback.

Ctrip does charge a 3% fee for using a foreign credit card but it codes as travel so you can make it back. Sometimes this is cheaper (including the fee) than Trip.com for plane tickets.

I found this page: https://www.bankofchina.com/de/de/pb..._21740193.html
and the application form is here: https://pic.bankofchina.com/bocappd/...8711297162.pdf

I didn't see any fees though. How much does it cost / do you need a minimum balance in a linked account?
I'd get it if the amount you pay in FX fees in China per year is more than the annual fee...

The monthly fee is only 4 EUR for the bank account. From a pure current financial standpoint, it wouldn't pay off since I visit the mainland perhaps twice a year (maximum), and don't have any spare money to make big ticket purchases.

In comparison, I pay 12,95 EUR/month for my current account, which includes a Mastercard credit card that allows me to make a fixed number of ATM withdrawals for free. No rewards, no points. And purchases not in Euro get hit with a FX fee.

Granted, was just curious whether opening a RMB account would be interesting, since I do have RMB in cash laying around as a reserve. And would de-risk from Mastercard as the sole payment provider.

Well in the spirit of FT, assuming it’s not a large expense, encourage you to try and report back!

My HSBC misadventures are an amusing DP at least