Not sure why you're getting downvoted. NPR had a story on exactly this - China largely skipped credit cards and went straight for the mobile payments.

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/06/29/53...

Africa did as well for the most part, didn't they? I recall reading how people there are largely "unbanked" but they carry balances with their cell provider somehow and pay each other that way.

In Africa that would be m-pesa, started by a Kenyan telecom and Vodafone.

One fun bit is that it uses SIM applications[0], something that's barely used for anything serious except for m-pesa (and its spin-offs) but exists practically across the entire GSM infrastructure.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_Application_Toolkit

It's called "protectionism".

China did the same thing by banning Google and supporting Baidu.

or maybe it's just the case of being "late to the game", when you don't have to stick to particular technology just because there was a significant investment in its' infrastructure, but can choose whatever you want from what is available currently.

Sort of.

In Baidu's case, they're a locally grown replacement. Per the article, local credit systems didn't really take off; a researcher in the article states their belief it's due to different attitudes on debt in China.

And for the direct equivalent of Visa/MC there's unionpay.

Most merchants also prefer to take WeChat and AliPay because there are no fees.