Re:What Uber Left Behind in Asia
by seanmcdirmid on Sunday May 05, 2019 @02:26PM
(#19834168)
> Wechat pay is quite popular even outside of China
You have to be a Chinese tourist to use it. It isn't used by locals or tourists from other countries.
Other countries solved the cashless problem long ago with credit cards, which just never caught on (mainly because of horrible banks, ICBC AmEx places the burden of proof on card holders for fraud).
I've only been to an ATM twice since leaving China in late 2016. As a foreigner, WeChat never worked very well for me (they want a copy of my Chinese ID card????), so I had to carry lots of cash. Heck, before around 2012, I was even paying the rent with cash (pay once every 3 months, need 20k+ RMB...ATM has withdraw limit of 3K RMB per transaction...ugh).
You have to be a Chinese tourist to use it. It isn't used by locals or tourists from other countries.
Other countries solved the cashless problem long ago with credit cards, which just never caught on (mainly because of horrible banks, ICBC AmEx places the burden of proof on card holders for fraud).
I've only been to an ATM twice since leaving China in late 2016. As a foreigner, WeChat never worked very well for me (they want a copy of my Chinese ID card????), so I had to carry lots of cash. Heck, before around 2012, I was even paying the rent with cash (pay once every 3 months, need 20k+ RMB...ATM has withdraw limit of 3K RMB per transaction...ugh).