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I go to China often but it's been two years now. I don't look forward to the next visit for this very reason—I'll need this to pay for any and everything. I'm n
by _sveq 7y ago
I go to China often but it's been two years now. I don't look forward to the next visit for this very reason—I'll need this to pay for any and everything. I'm not going back.
- catherd 7y agoCash still works exactly the way it always has, (almost) nobody is going to turn down your business because you don't pay by an app.
- spectramax 7y agoBesides payments, WeChat is inextricably tied to everything you do in China from chatting with your friends to buying a movie ticket to visa renewals. I've spent over 400 nights in Chinese cities and I depend on WeChat like I depend on water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat#Features https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat#Features
- loceng 7y agoAnd how long, if not already - likely once their people are acclimatized to the idea of 'social rating' system - before they start subtly or aggressively warning people, swaying their behaviour, of potential for their rating to go down if associating with X who isn't using apps. A digitized version of Nazi Germany with mass censorship capabilities really is terrifying.
- mc32 7y agoNot that is makes much difference, but the Stasi were DDR socialist East Germany.
- rjsw 7y agoThere is a TV series based on Ian Kershaw's work on Nazi Germany [1]. One Gestapo office had not been able to destroy their records and it was found that most arrests of people were done as a result of them being denounced by their neighbours not by any actions of Gestapo personnel. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nazis:_A_Warning_from_History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nazis:_A_Warning_from_Hist...
- mc32 7y agoI’m not surprised. Many totalitarian regimes set up systems where neighbors can report on “counterrevolutionary” activities in which an abusive system “gets abused” and people use it for personal revenge among other things.
- ggg2 7y agothey already have the little red book-esque app that solidifies Xi as their permanent leader. now I can't recall if that was a stand alone app or within the wechat ecosystem.
- adinobro 7y agoOut of curiosity do you change your behaviour because of your credit score (created by private companies)? Considering the fact that the private companies pitching social credit to the government are merchants (Tecent & Aligroup) that is the only data they have access to.
- loceng 7y agoCompanies spend money on advertising because it works. Edit: Realized after you asked about credit score. A credit score is quite different than what China's rating system is all about from my understanding. Being dependable on repaying money or paying money you've promised to pay is a very specific rating that aligns with a person's accountability and/or ability to predict and manage their situation.
- incompatible 7y agoI was curious about what happens to people who can't get WeChat accounts. Perhaps due to committing crimes (in the way that sex offenders may be banned from using social media) or maybe they offended WeChat in some way (in the way that people lose their Google accounts if Google so decides). Perhaps you could even be kicked off WeChat for having a social rating that was too low.
- rtpg 7y agoI mean wechat is useful for talking to Airbnb hosts, but so long as you don’t have just 100s you can still pay people with cash Also visa renewals? What is that in reference to?
- powerapple 7y agoThere are other apps. And you can still buy tickets from counter in cinema use Cash or WeChat or Alipay. People use it more often because of its convenience. But you can live without it. The main problem is that you will find it difficult to live without its convenience.
- loyukfai 7y agoNaturally, going onwards, places and things that one cannot buy and/or go without an e-wallet will gradually increase, right?
- yesforwhat 7y agoyes but only WeChat is tied to an authoritarian government's surveillance network
- teknologist 7y agoThere are shops in the big cities that are starting to refuse cash now (apparently, this is not illegal in China) and only accept the two big payment apps.
- dintech 7y agoThere are loads of coffee shops and cafes in the UK that don't take cash any more.
- yesforwhat 7y agoThey still take Visa, and don't insist on an authoritarian government's surveillance app.
- ohithereyou 7y agoWhat do you call the CCTV cameras everywhere other than "an authoritarian government's surveillance"?
- ubercow13 7y agoReally?
- pertymcpert 7y agoThey're mostly private, JFC...
- teknologist 7y agoNice strawman
- adinobro 7y agoIt is illegal to refuse cash in China but it takes a while for the shops to be found and fined.
- 7y ago
- yesforwhat 7y agoi've lost count of the amount of times i've been refused a coffee or beer because they don't except cash or visa card. It's only going to get worse.
- markplindsay 7y agoI was in China (Beijing and Wenzhou) in April. I had NO success finding a taxi in Beijing—the only way to get a ride was to use an app like Didi Chuxing. I was able to install and use it just fine. The problem was that it is impossible to link a non-PRC payment method to it. The same is true for WeChat Pay or Alipay—you've got to use a Chinese bank account or card as a source. I was not able to find a way around this despite over an hour of experimenting with the apps. In contrast, it was easy to get taxis in Wenzhou. The drivers all initially asked for electronic payment, though, so it's probably only a matter of regulation that is preventing them from going cashless.
- adinobro 7y agoIf you want to get a real taxi use Baidu maps. It is in Chinese but you can just drop a pin where you want to go and ask for a real taxi instead of a Didi. A Chinese person can show you the buttons to press then you can pay with cash.
- markplindsay 7y agoI'm pretty sure I tried this—I think the prompts were even in English, if I'm remembering correctly. However, I gave up after several tries of it looking for a taxi and not finding one while I was standing in the rain on a dark street corner. It would sit and look for minutes and appeared to be a broken feature. I ended up taking a BRT line to get back to my hotel and it was great. All of my experiences with transit in Beijing were excellent. I just wish taxis or car services were an option for tourists.
- baybal2 7y agoI think Didi does accept international visa cards. > despite over an hour of experimenting with the apps. You can link some HK and South African credit cards
- ubercow13 7y agoYou can link a foreign VISA card to Didi and pay with that easily. I did this in April this year. Actually it was the only thing I was able to pay for without cash while in China.
- dewey 7y agoI was there last month and it was almost impossible to get money on your WeChat account without a Chinese bank account. It was easy to fund my Malaysian WeChat account but the balance isn't transferable or usable in China. There's currently one remaining loop hole I know about which is to pay someone to send money via a red envelope / hóngbāo but it's getting increasingly harder. It's already asking you for a passport and right now it still works even if you cancel that but probably not for much longer. You can do that either if you know someone, ask someone in a store if they do it from their personal account or through some websites that take PayPal but with a hefty commission usually.
- usaar333 7y agoIs this a loop hole or intentional? I'm guessing wechat doesn't care to optimize the visitor experience. Has it ever been different? Afaik, it's as limited as it always was; they just added identity verification.
- dewey 7y agoIt's a relatively new change, the latest big change was in April when they removed one other way of sending a red envelope. So it doesn't seem like it's intentional. https://lerner.co.il/2018/12/28/the-foreigners-guide-to-wechat-payments-in-china/ https://lerner.co.il/2018/12/28/the-foreigners-guide-to-wech...
- srcmap 7y agoMight be related to some government regulations about money laundering. There is some problem with that in China.
- amaccuish 7y agoWhat's the point of this though? Surely it hurts tourism to China? Wouldn't it be better if foreigners could easily use wechat pay?
- 7y ago
- ghaff 7y agoAt least last time I was there, you needed a Chinese bank account to link. A quick search suggests there are a few workarounds but you probably still can't just add a foreign credit card.