Foreigners visiting China are increasingly stumped by its cashless society

[j20blackdragon]

But don’t count those paper greenbacks out just yet. Cash still remains the most frequent method of payment in the country overall, representing roughly 31 percent of all consumer transactions, more than electronic, credit, debit or checks.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/more-americans-say-they-dont-carry-cash.html

A report published last year by the San Francisco Federal Reserve found that 55% of all transactions under $10 are paid for using cash.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/c...-china---will-the-us-be-far-behind-2019-11-01

I think they simply were never exposed to a card infrastructure that was fast and simple to use.

Bank cards in China have been experiencing a boom in use over the past two years, especially credit cards. Banks in China had issued a total of 331 million credit cards by the end of 2012, exceeding the number of debit cards, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China. The figure represented a rise of 16 percent year-on-year. On average, one in four Chinese people have credit cards, a 19 percent year-on-year growth. In Beijing and Shanghai, residents have more than one credit card on average.

By the end of 2012, banks in China had issued a total of 3.5 billion bank cards, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China. Some 44.4 percent of Chinese residents who have bank accounts own one or more bank cards, the data said.
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-03/18/content_16315802.htm

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Bank cards in China have been experiencing a boom in use over the past two years, especially credit cards. Banks in China had issued a total of 331 million credit cards by the end of 2012, exceeding the number of debit cards, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China. The figure represented a rise of 16 percent year-on-year. On average, one in four Chinese people have credit cards, a 19 percent year-on-year growth. In Beijing and Shanghai, residents have more than one credit card on average.

By the end of 2012, banks in China had issued a total of 3.5 billion bank cards, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China. Some 44.4 percent of Chinese residents who have bank accounts own one or more bank cards, the data said.
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-03/18/content_16315802.htm

So why is he so adamant that credit cards are slower that WeChat or AliPay if he knows full well it can take a quick 1 second beep with a NFC terminal. Even with me posting videos he is in denial. It doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to see why this would be preferred over a QR code system like Square had or the ones that are common in China.

The logical answer is he simply hasn’t been exposed to an infrastructure that allows for speedy systems. Even an old school swipe at a gas pump takes seconds.

How can you beat simply holding your phone out and letting it do all the work in a second or two?

Meanwhile he thinks this is cutting edge technology that should be adopted in developed countries like the US.

When WeChat and AliPay move to a similar NFC way he'll be on here praising China for being sooooo cutting edge compared to the backwards West.

 

[beijingwalker]

So why is he so adamant that credit cards are slower that WeChat or AliPay if he knows full well it can take a quick 1 second beep with a NFC terminal. Even with me posting videos he is in denial. It doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to see why this would be preferred over a QR code system like Square had or the ones that are common in China.

The logical answer is he simply hasn’t been exposed to an infrastructure that allows for speedy systems. Even an old school swipe at a gas pump takes seconds.

How can you beat simply holding your phone out and letting it do all the work in a second or two?

Meanwhile he thinks this is cutting edge technology that should be adopted in developed countries like the US.

When WeChat and AliPay move to a similar NFC way he'll be on here praising China for being sooooo cutting edge compared to the backwards West.

At least based on the way most people use their credit card it is slow than wechat or alipay, that's a fact and proved by US expats in China. but what I say in this thread is China is a cashless society and that's the future, but you don't seem to agree, that's the debate we are having.