One of the many exhausting things about living in China as a foreigner is how much of their tech infrastructure excludes anyone who is not a Chinese citizen. As

One of the many exhausting things about living in China as a foreigner is how much of their tech infrastructure excludes anyone who is not a Chinese citizen. Aside from the challenge of getting Alipay set up, the moment you leave mainland China (even to Hong Kong) you can no longer use Alipay to pay for anything, even though Chinese citizens are able to do this without any trouble. Similarly, a lot of government-mandated apps require you to enter a state ID number which foreigners are not issued. The worst was living there through the coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions, because every town had its own special corona app to prove you had a green health code, but hardly any towns supported registration with a foreign passport. I presume that's changed now (i don't live there any more), but it's China, so there will undoubtedly be a new hazy private/public partnership gimmick app that makes things awkward for foreigners.