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by dewey 433 days ago
It might have worked for you but it's still not trivial. There's many hoops to jump through still like random ID verifications, many banks not being supported to be linked, account locks that can only be unblocked by having a WeChat contact vouch for you etc.
1 comments
decimalenough 433 days ago
This was the case when I jumped through those hoops in 2019, but it's much more straightforward now. Passport, phone number (doesn't have to Chinese) plus credit/debit card unlocks up to RMB 50,000/mo, with no fees for transactions under RMB 200.

https://www.china-briefing.com/news/wechat-enables-foreigner...

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dewey 432 days ago
That article is from 2023, things changed a lot in the past years. I just clicked on "Top up balance" (while being located in China) and it says "Please add a debit card issued by a Chinese Mainland bank to use the top-up function".
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decimalenough 432 days ago
If you have a foreign credit card, there's no need to maintain a balance at all, transactions are passed through directly.

And yes, of course there are limits on what you can do as a visitor, but for normal touristy stuff it's quite sufficient.

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