The WeChat payment moment that finally clicked for me in Shanghai

I'd been using cash and my foreign card for two weeks in Shanghai last March, thinking I was being careful. Then a noodle shop owner just pointed at his QR code and wouldn't take my bills, even after I showed him I had the exact change. Turned out he couldn't make change in his register, and that pushed me to set up Alipay with my passport that same afternoon. After that, I got into places and ordered things I couldn't before, and my whole perception of everyday Chinese life shifted. Has anyone else had that 'aha' moment with a local payment system, or is it just me?

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blair_allen22d ago

That bit about the noodle shop owner not being able to make change really hits home. I had almost the exact same thing happen in a tiny dumpling place in Hangzhou, except I was dumb enough to keep insisting and held up the whole line for like five minutes. So after you set up Alipay, did you actually go back to that same noodle shop and pay with your phone, or was it more about the general freedom of it? Because for me, the real moment wasn't the setup, it was walking back into that same store and having the guy just nod and scan me, like I'd finally figured out the secret handshake. Curious if that revisit part was as satisfying for you as it was for me.