How to Use the New Bilingual Alipay as a Laowai

In 2015 we wrote a guide to setting up Alipay's Chinese app on your smartphone. Since then, WeChat Wallet has since become a ubiquitous medium for payment in Beijing – accepted by your local supermarket as well as the jianbing stand around the corner, and almost everything in between. WeChat Wallet's simple, bilingual interface has also made it the prefered app among foreigners, but now Alipay is making a concerted effort to compete for the laowai market.

One way that zhifubao (as Alipay is named in Chinese) has already outmaneuvered WeChat Wallet: a newly bilingual, more foreigner-friendly setup available to anyone with a Chinese bank card and an active phone number (a godsend compared to WeChat Wallet's cumbersome setup, which I needed a Chinese friend's assistance with, before I could begin using it).

There are several reasons why you'd want to set up Alipay in addition to WeChat Wallet. At 10 years old (twice the age of WeChat), Alipay is China's longest-running mobile payment app, which means that it has more customers and compatibility with businesses and electronic banking features. For example, using Alipay you can link directly to Taobao, whereas WeChat cannot.

However, if you're not a habitual user of hotels and businesses that have joined with Alipay's payment system then it is likely that WeChat is the more convenient option and should cover most of your payment needs given that you and your friends already have it installed on your phones.

Click "Read more" to access the detailed steps.

Photo: hk.on.cc

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