Tour Pass is dead, but foreign cards on Alipay actually work now — tested May 2026

Kurokun

I keep seeing outdated info about Tour Pass. Let me clear this up:

Tour Pass is gone. It was a prepaid card for foreigners inside Alipay. It had a ¥10,000 cap and a 5% top-up fee. It shut down.

But here's what replaced it: direct foreign card linking.

What works as of May 2026:

Alipay:
• Download the app
• Register with any phone number (foreign numbers accepted)
• Go to "Me" → "Bank Cards" → "Add a Card"
• Add your Visa / Mastercard / JCB / Diners Club
• Complete passport verification (scan + selfie)
• Wait for approval (usually instant, sometimes up to 24 hours)

WeChat Pay:
• Similar process
• But... success rate is lower for foreign cards
• Some cards that work on Alipay fail on WeChat
• Wallet activation can take hours or even a full day

Real-world limits:

• Single transaction: up to ¥5,000 (Alipay), ¥3,000 (WeChat)
• Monthly limit: varies by card issuer, typically ¥20,000–50,000
• No payment fees for purchases
• 3% fee if you try to "top up" Alipay balance from a foreign card

The backup plan:

Carry ¥500–1,000 in cash. Some street vendors genuinely don't know how to handle cash anymore (yes, really), but hotels, major restaurants, and airports still accept it.

Also: Alipay+ now supports cross-border e-wallets from several countries. If you have a supported home-country wallet, you can pay in China without downloading Alipay at all.

My friend from Singapore paid for everything using his Grab wallet via Alipay+. Didn't download a single Chinese app.

Anyone else tested the foreign card linking recently? Which card worked for you?