All you need is your Chinese bank account and a picture of your passport.
Cheap and efficient, these bike rental apps are a great way to get around and see the city. Recently introduced in the UK and other countries around the world you will never go more than 10 metres without seeing a Mobike or Ofo bike. Your account is linked directly to your card and Alipay account meaning this is once again a cashless transaction. You are able to type messages to your driver in English which are immediately translated into Chinese and vice versa, meaning no awkward lost in translation moments and you are able to type in addresses in English. It’s easy to use and cheaper than hailing a taxi from the side of the road.
Didi has thousands of drivers and you will very rarely wait longer than 5 minutes for one to appear on your door step. You can also use Alipay to top up your phone with credit, pay your house hold bills and pay for taxis.ĭidi is there to make taxi travel easy! Now in English, Didi is the Chinese version of Uber. You can transfer money to your friends and it will go straight into their account making those awkward bill splitting moments at restaurants a thing of the past. In China every shop will accept Alipay whether it’s your local supermarket, the old man selling noodles on the side of the street or even all online shops and websites, this is how you will be making most of your online transactions. The most popular being ‘Wechat Wallet’, a way of making payments by scanning QR codes on your phone.Īlipay is a mobile payment app. As well as all of this Wechat has many more uses. Wechat is also a very popular social media platform where you can upload ‘moments’ onto your page in a similar way to Facebook or Instagram. In China Wechat is everything! Wechat is an instant messaging platform similar to whatsapp that you will use to communicate with your new friends in China either through instant messages or video calls.
There are also some that you can download for free however these tend to be a little less reliable. VPN’s are very affordable and are usually a little less than 100 USD for a yearly subscription.
But also, a VPN is great if you want to watch online TV from your home country (I can’t live without BBC iPlayer and 4OD).
To be able to access most social media sites you will need one of these. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a must have for China to get around its notoriously strict internet policy (the great firewall). Read on for a guide to the essential apps you will simply not be able to live without once you have settled.īefore leaving China ensure that you have installed a VPN on both your phone and on your laptop/tablet. A smart phone in China is not just a phone it is your wallet, your office and so much more. Once touching down in China you will very quickly realise that EVERYONE has a smart phone.