My daughters and I visited Beijing China this last August. We had a lovely time. We visited many historic areas, ate the most amazing food in the world, and created many memories. But we had one problem.
Once we ventured only a short distance from where the western business hotels are located, we found that no one accepted American credit or debit cards. The only way we could pay for anything was by carrying fat stacks of cash with us every day.
I seldom ever carry cash in America, so this felt very strange. My wallet felt like it belonged to George Costanza. There I was, carrying the fattest wallet in a nation of 1.4 billion people, the majority of whom were paying quickly and easily with mobile payments via their phone, apps that were not available to business visitors and tourists.
But that is changing with the arrival of Alipay, and soon to be followed by WeChatPay, both Chinese standard payments apps that will be targeted toward non-residents. Oh, how I could have used one of these!
Believe me when I say we were sometimes in a world of hurt and hunger. We had to inquire upon entering a restaurant if they accepted credit cards, especially if my pile of cash had run low. I am certainly not averse to leveraging technology, so adapting would not have been a problem. Actually, I had to adapt, but back to the Stone Age of paper money.
As I have told many upon our return, China is not very different from other western nations. The world is a lot smaller than it once was. Come on...when you can go to a Central Perk coffee shop that is essentially a shrine to Friends, you know that east has met west. The big difference, though, is they have developed their own ways of doing many of the same things we do elsewhere around the world, such as ride-sharing, social media apps, maps.
With the recent easing of trade tensions between the US and China, this new development signals better days ahead for people traveling to the Far East, one that is very welcoming.
The bigger takeaway is that maybe enough Americans can come to experience pervasive mobile payment options that we will come to demand it back home. Yes, we have them, such as Apple Pay, but very few use them, myself included. We are so accustomed to using credit and debit cards in the States that we reflexively hand over a piece of plastic for everything we wish to buy. Old habits die hard.
Bravo for China taking the lead on this. I can’t wait to return. And you can bet I will be carrying a whole lot less cash around. Because George can keep his big fat wallet.
