Do you need cash in China?
Short answer
Rarely — but a card on its own is not the answer either. Almost everything runs through payment apps, and a foreign card has to be linked to one of them first.
The phone is the payment method
A printed QR code taped to the counter is the normal way to pay for almost anything — a bowl of noodles, a metro ticket, a bag of fruit from a cart. The customer scans the code and enters the amount, rather than the shop ringing something up.
The consequence is that cash has become the awkward option rather than the safe one. A small vendor who has not handled a banknote all week may not have change for a large note, and some counters no longer keep a till at all.
Linking a foreign card
Both major payment apps now accept international cards, so you no longer need a Chinese bank account to use them. This is the single most useful thing to arrange before you fly.
Set it up at home while you still have a working connection and time to fix problems. Verification involves photographing your passport, and doing that for the first time in an airport arrivals hall is not where you want to discover an issue.
Where cash still helps
Keep a modest amount of small notes for the places the apps have not reached — older street vendors, rural stalls, temple donations, and the occasional machine that only takes coins.
Bank ATMs accept foreign cards, and the ones inside airports and large stations are the most reliable. Withdraw a working amount rather than a week of spending: the point of the cash is to cover gaps, not to be your main method.
Good to know
- Set the app up before departure — verification is easier with a working connection you trust
- A card that works at an ATM may still be declined at a counter; the app is the reliable path
Yes. Cards work in cities, but small restaurants, shrines, and rural transport are cash only.
Some. Malls and hotels take cards, but stalls, markets and shared vans want cash — and locals mostly pay each other by QR.
Yes. Hotels and malls take cards, but street food, markets and short rides all run on cash — and the notes are easy to confuse.
Rarely. Cards and phone payments work almost everywhere, including buses and street stalls.
Some. Convenience stores and chains take cards, but night markets and small kitchens run on cash — and on the transit card.