Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software that we don't see?

Re:Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software tha... by jon-wood on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @08:45AM (#23476434)

From the consumer side there's a totally different ecosystem of apps (or A-P-Ps as everyone calls them) used for almost everything. I travelled to China last year for work and would have been completely stranded without the person our supplier assigned to us to look after us.

Cash is basically not used, with everyone using either WeChat or Ali payments via mobile apps (which as far as we could tell you can't activate without a Chinese bank account). Even the person hawking souvenirs in the the queue at the great wall only accepted mobile payments, the only place that would accept a western card was one particular Xiaomi store.

On the second day we were there we decided to buy a coffee near the office before going in, only to be thwarted by the fact you could only order via a mobile app. The person working there literally could not accept an order manually via the till, and we couldn't install the app to place one because it was only available on the Chinese version of the app stores. After that we mostly just accepted the fact we weren't going to be able to function independently.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software tha... by ccvannorman on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @08:59AM (#23476525)

There's no way this is good for China long term, right? I mean, I am an entrepreneur, game developer, and English teacher, and I went to China in 2003 and had no issue whatsoever. Based on this info, I have no motivation to go back and start an English learning school or any other business ....

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software tha... by josephmosby on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @09:45AM (#23476940)

It's working okay for one billion people already.

Chinese economic restrictions generally tilt toward keeping the majority of capital flowing throughout China and strategic investments abroad. They are definitely not geared to someone who wants to start an English-learning school and repatriate earnings back to the UK or wherever. WeChat/Alipay support this - you can't really spend that money anywhere except in China.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software tha... by aianus on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @11:09AM (#23477881)

All the malls in Toronto take WeChat and Alipay.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software tha... by blaser-waffle on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @11:20AM (#23478036)

Vancouver too -- go figure; very common in Richmond, reasonably common elsewhere.

And I've seen it a few places in Edmonton and Calgary.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a whole universe of Chinese software tha... by alisonatwork on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @12:42PM (#23479127)

Unfortunately using those apps overseas only appears to work for Chinese citizens. If you are a foreigner who lives, works and pays taxes in China, you still cannot pay overseas with the apps that work perfectly fine here. Getting money out of the country requires several hours of faffing about at the bank.

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