While not super relevant, maybe, last week in both Shenzhen and Guangzhou I saw that the subway systems allowed people to use Apple Pay with Union Pay enabled cards, and McDonald's and one other local fast-food restaurant's self-order kiosks allowed for payment with Apple Pay, so that's why I was asking.

I know Beijing and Shanghai metro cards can be added to Apple Pay, and you can use WeChat/Alipay QR codes in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but I've found it's always easier to tap my NFC enabled Union Pay card rather than fire up WeChat Pay. Unfortunately, I can't add it to Apple Pay, so I was hoping Discover might work. It seems simple based on the Guangzhou metro's website...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8d20825952.png

No, unfortunately not. I've been able to add other foreign cards - which are useless except to top up my Chinese mobile number - but can't add the foreign-issued Union Pay card. Even messaging US ICBC hasn't helped - even though their customer service reps are based in China, they can't give any advice either.

I use Apple Pay with a UnionPay card regularly. It saves on having a supplementary card which costs money for some premium credit cards. It's also very useful for certain app purchases (e.g., Meituan) because they count as offline purchases as opposed to online purchases for earning reward points as the latter is capped with my card provider.

As to acceptance it's accepted at almost every merchant that accepts a physical UnionPay card.

Would Apple Pay work with those merchants who accepts only wechat pay? Had a situation last year where a store refused to accept cash, and insisted I can only pay with, I assume, wechat pay, which I don't have.

In general, no. For example, the fruit seller on my street has zero clue about Apple Pay.

Apple Pay in China is an extension of UnionPay contactless payment. So if a merchant doesn't accept UnionPay cards then Apple Pay won't be accepted either. The exception is if the merchant accepts payment through a third-party platform such as Meituan which itself accepts Apple Pay. This is pretty nice actually because some cheap restaurants don't have POS machines but they may still accept payment through Meituan.