How to Pay in China: Alipay, WeChat Pay and PayPal

China runs on QR codes. Nobody here is counting out coins at a night market stall, and plenty of small places stopped carrying change years ago. Set up one of the two big wallet apps before you fly and almost everything becomes easy. Leave it and you will be the person standing at a ticket window with a card nobody can swipe.

You do not have to install anything to book with us. Our tickets, transfers and tours can be paid by PayPal or card from abroad, and none of what follows is required for that. Everything below is about the spending you will do on the ground: noodles, taxis, the little temple at the end of a boardwalk, the bottle of water at the top of the mountain.

Do this before you fly

1. Install Alipay and WeChat from the App Store or Google Play while you still have your own wifi and your own patience.
2. Add your card to both. Overseas Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club and Discover cards work. UnionPay works too, and it is the one that dodges the fee below.
3. Do the passport verification. Both apps ask for a photo of your passport. The name on the app, the card and the passport needs to match, all three.
4. Turn off your VPN while binding the card. A foreign IP popping up in the middle of card verification is exactly what bank fraud systems look for.
5. Tell your bank you are travelling. One declined payment is enough to make you give up on the whole thing.
6. Bring RMB 300 to 500 in small notes. Not because China is a cash country, but because phones die, mountain signal drops out, and a stall kid in flip flops does not take Visa.

Exchange at the airport or at a bank counter, not at your hotel reception, and ask for tens and twenties. A 100-yuan note gets a sad look at breakfast.

Alipay: the easier of the two

If you only have time for one, do this one. The English interface is better, and the setup path is short.

1. Download Alipay, register with your email or international phone number.
2. Go to Me, then Bank Cards, then Add Card.
3. Put in your Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club, Discover or UnionPay card.
4. Upload the passport photo if it asks.
5. Land, buy something cheap at a convenience store, and see it work before you need it to.

A single payment of RMB 200 or less carries no platform fee. Above RMB 200 there is roughly a 3% charge, and it is calculated on the whole amount rather than the part over RMB 200. The screen shows it before you approve. Your own bank may add a foreign transaction fee on top, usually another 1 to 2%.

You will read on some travel sites that Alipay takes a flat 3% off every international card payment. That is not what happens. Payments of RMB 200 or less carry no platform fee at all, and on anything bigger the confirmation screen shows the figure before you approve it, so you can decide rather than discover.

Two things do not work with an overseas card. You cannot send money to another person, and you cannot send red packets. Merchant payments only. Nobody at a shop cares about this. It only matters if you were planning to split a bill by transferring to a friend.

Limits exist, and they are set both by Alipay and by your card issuer. Alipay publishes its own figures in US dollars, roughly USD 5,000 per transaction and USD 50,000 a year, so the yuan number moves with the rate. For tickets, meals and transfers you will never see the ceiling.

WeChat Pay: also the way you will talk to us

WeChat is the app everyone here actually lives in. Setting it up pays twice: once for paying, once for messaging. Drivers, guides, guesthouses and half the shops in town contact people on WeChat rather than email.

1. Install or update WeChat, register with your international number.
2. Go to Me, then Services, then Wallet, then Cards.
3. Add your overseas card and verify with your passport.
4. Pay by showing your QR code, or by scanning theirs.

The fee rule is the same shape as Alipay: RMB 200 or less on a single payment costs nothing extra, above that there is roughly a 3% charge. Your card issuer may add their own.

There is a better deal running this year. Bind an international card to WeChat Pay for the first time before 31 December 2026 and the 3% fee is waived for 90 days from your first purchase, on spending up to RMB 1,000 a day. It was announced in 2026 and it is the strongest reason to bother with WeChat rather than only doing Alipay.

Same restriction as Alipay: an overseas card pays merchants, it does not send transfers or red packets. WeChat’s own published limits for foreign cards sit around RMB 6,000 per transaction and RMB 60,000 a year. Check the limit page in the app before anything expensive.

One more reason to set it up. Add us on WeChat and you have somebody to message mid-trip: a delayed flight, a gate you cannot find, a restaurant that will not serve you. Faster than email, and whoever answers speaks English.

PayPal: nothing to install

Can you pay us with PayPal? Yes, and most people do. We confirm the dates first, then send a PayPal link or take your card in our checkout. Nothing is charged before we know there are slots. No Chinese app, no Chinese bank account, and no QR code learning curve.

There is a newer thing worth knowing if you are American. In 2026, PayPal accounts based in the United States became able to pay at WeChat Pay merchants in China straight from the PayPal app, by scanning the merchant QR code. Other countries are being added in stages. It settles from your PayPal balance rather than a card inside PayPal, so put money in the balance before you fly rather than relying on the card at the counter.

One honest note about protection. PayPal disputes work well for physical goods. For services, and for things booked ahead for a specific date, coverage is narrower than most people assume. What we do instead is simpler: we confirm everything in writing before money moves, we do not take card numbers over email or WhatsApp, and every payment lands on an invoice that lists what you bought.

Cards and cash

Plastic still works in the places that deal with foreigners anyway: big hotels, airport shops, large shopping centres. It does not work at small restaurants, most ticket counters in the parks, taxis on the street, or the metered bus at 6am. For those you need a wallet app or cash.

Cash is the backup, not the plan. RMB 300 to 500 in small notes is plenty. It is there for a dead battery, a signal that gives out on the mountain, and the handful of stalls that take nothing else.

Which one to use

Method	Best for	Watch out for
Alipay	Everyday paying. Shops, restaurants, taxis, most counters	Roughly 3% above RMB 200 on a single payment. Cannot transfer to people
WeChat Pay	Paying and messaging in the same app	Same 3% above RMB 200, waived for 90 days if you bind before 31 December 2026
PayPal	Booking tours, tickets and transfers with us	Dispute cover is weaker on services than on goods. Check rates before you approve
Card, in our checkout	Big bookings paid from home	Your bank’s own conversion fee applies
Cash RMB	Dead battery, weak signal, village stalls	Bring small notes. Nobody has change for a 100

Do I need both? Install both if you can. Neither is required to book with us, but they are how you pay for meals, taxis and small shops once you are here, and plenty of places have no other option. When one declines, the other very often does not, and the reason is usually something dull on the issuing bank’s side.

Paying us: how the money moves

Book a Forest Park ticket, a glass bridge slot, an airport transfer or a driver by the day, and the flow is the same every time.

1. You ask, we check availability and quote in RMB, with US dollars or ringgit alongside if you want it.
2. We confirm the dates.
3. We send a PayPal link, or take the card in our own checkout.
4. Passport names and numbers come to us afterwards, by email or WhatsApp. Not through a form on a website, and never with card numbers in the same message.

Pay the driver instead? On the pass with a pickup, yes. Card, WeChat Pay, Alipay or RMB cash, and you sign a printed sheet listing what you paid for. He keeps one copy and you keep one.

We do not take card numbers over WhatsApp or email. There is no version of that which ends well.

Where paying us actually saves you money

The reason people book tickets with us is not the payment. It is that most official booking systems here are built for Chinese ID cards, and a foreign passport has nowhere to put a concession.

Three examples of what we sort out, and what nobody else will:

• Children. Height decides the rides and age decides the ticket. Under 1.2 metres tall goes free on everything. Under 14 pays nothing at the gate. Those are two different measurements and they are checked separately.
• Students. Full-time, bachelor’s level or below, under 24, with the physical card. A master’s student pays full fare, and that is policy rather than a clerk being difficult.
• Parents. 60 to 64 pays about half. 65 and over pays nothing for entry.

Do children get cheaper tickets? Often, and cheaper than most overseas booking sites will sell you. Height decides the rides and age decides the admission, so tell us both numbers and we will quote it properly.

One thing to keep straight, because it trips people up: whether the discount follows you onto the lifts depends on the park. In the National Forest Park it stops at the gate, and the cable cars, the Bailong Elevator and the sightseeing train are charged in full for foreign passports at any age. At Tianmen Mountain and the Grand Canyon glass bridge the discounts run the same way for foreign visitors as they do for Chinese citizens.

All of that is on the ticket pages, per park, with the actual numbers.

Checklist before you fly

• Alipay installed, card added, passport verified.
• WeChat installed, card added, so you can message us in the country.
• Bank told about the trip.
• RMB 300 to 500 in small notes in your wallet, not in the suitcase.
• Passport, and a physical student card if anyone in the group will claim a discount.
• Popular dates booked early. Slots are the thing that runs out, not tickets.

Questions people ask

Do I need Alipay or WeChat Pay for a trip to Zhangjiajie?

Install both if you can. Neither is required to book with us, but they are how you pay for meals, taxis and small shops once you are here, and plenty of places have no other option.

Does it cost anything to use a foreign card on Alipay or WeChat Pay?

A single payment of RMB 200 or less carries no platform fee. Above RMB 200 there is roughly a 3% charge, and it is calculated on the whole amount rather than the part over RMB 200. The screen shows it before you approve.

Can I pay you by PayPal?

Yes, and most people do. We confirm the dates first, then send a PayPal link or take your card in our checkout. Nothing is charged before we know there are slots.

Can I pay the driver instead?

On the pass with a pickup, yes. Card, WeChat Pay, Alipay or RMB cash, and you sign a printed sheet listing what you paid for.

How much cash should I bring?

RMB 300 to 500 in small notes is plenty. It is there for a dead battery, a signal that gives out on the mountain, and the handful of stalls that take nothing else.

Do children get cheaper tickets?

Often, and cheaper than most overseas booking sites will sell you. Height decides the rides and age decides the admission, so tell us both numbers and we will quote it properly.