I tried to survive an entire day using WeChat to pay for stuff. Here’s how it went

“I’m going to take some cash. I’ll probably need it,” I say, as I prepare to leave the house. The cat
yawns in response. I yawn. Are cat yawns contagious, like human ones?

I need some coffee.

So that’s going to be my first stop as I try to get through an entire day using only WeChat to pay for stuff. I don’t have a lot of confidence that it’ll work as planned, which is why I stuff some money and a bank card into my pocket as I always do. Even though the hugely popular messaging app has 600 million active users at the last count and is made by Tencent, one of China’s top web giants, I’ve not seen many people using WeChat in stores to pay for stuff. I’ve noticed a bunch of retail chains have WeChat Payment or Alipay stickers by the counter, but it’s far from widespread.

So today I’ll try to use WeChat’s cashless mobile payments as much as I can throughout the day. If it’s not available at a store, I’ll opt for Alipay, Alibaba’s mobile wallet app. Failing both, I’ll go find a different shop or just pay up in cash.

I head out.

10:45am: Parking on the street

Cost: RMB 5 (US$0.80)

WeChat win? Nope

Just as I’m finishing reversing into the spot, an elderly parking attendant appears out of nowhere at the driver-side window. Dao. Dao. Dao. Ting! I smile and give him a nod as if I were listening to his advice. I’m not sure if China has parking meters – I’ve never seen any. This chap does the job.

I decide that now’s a bad time to start my mobile payments experiment and hand over a five renminbi note, which he pockets with a xie xie and then ambles off so quickly that I’m not sure where he went. You’re supposed to be given a receipt; I saw him holding a wad of them. He’ll probably pocket that money, I think to myself. That’s another argument in favor of cashless payments – stopping civic funds vanishing into the ether.

11am: Coffee

Cost: RMB 26 (US$4.10)

WeChat win? Nope

1:40pm: Lunch

2:20pm: Refreshments

2:40pm: Socks

3pm: A few things for dinner

3:10pm: Vegetables

3:55pm: Gas station

4:50pm: Water

5:25pm: Topping up my phone

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