What's a good payment backup plan for China?

Why you need a backup at all

The layers, in order

• Two wallets, two cards: set up both Alipay and WeChat Pay, each with a card from a different bank. If one app stalls or one card is blocked, you switch instead of being stranded. This is the highest-value step.
• Cash: carry roughly 500–1,000 RMB as a safety net for a short, mostly-urban trip if your apps are set up — more if they aren't. Keep ¥100–300 in small ¥10/¥20/¥50 notes day-to-day, since vendors often can't change a ¥100.
• A physical card for ATMs and hotels: keep one for cash withdrawals, hotel deposits, and the high-end venues that do accept foreign cards.
• UnionPay, if you have one: a foreign-issued UnionPay card has the widest ATM and terminal coverage in China of any card, so it's the strongest single backup card.

Getting cash: ATMs that take foreign cards

• Stick to large state banks — Bank of China (most foreigner-friendly), ICBC, and China Construction Bank — and look for a Visa, Mastercard, Plus, or Cirrus logo before inserting your card.
• Withdrawals are capped around ¥3,000 per transaction, and fees are largely flat, so take out a larger amount fewer times rather than many small withdrawals.
• Always choose to be charged in local currency (CNY), never your home currency — that gets you your card network's rate instead of a marked-up one.
• Use an ATM at an open branch when you can, so you can go inside if your card is retained, and notify your bank of your travel dates first.

When a payment fails on the ground

• Card declined: usually your home bank — approve the fraud prompt it sends, or switch to your other card or app.
• A vendor's code won't take it: a foreign-linked wallet can't pay a street vendor's personal QR — ask them to scan your code instead, or pay cash.
• App over the limit: WeChat's per-transaction cap is lower than Alipay's, so a big purchase that fails on WeChat may go through on Alipay.
• Everything stalls: cash clears it. That's exactly what the float is for.