Customers can buy traditional Chinese calligraphy brushes at this Xi’an, China, store using QR payment codes. From left to right: WeChat Pay, Alipay and the QR code for the store’s WeChat account. Evelyn Cheng, CNBC
CNBC: Cash is already pretty much dead in China as the country lives the future with mobile pay
* Mainland Chinese stores and services are increasingly centered around mobile pay apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay.
* Chinese mobile payment volume more than doubled to $5 trillion in 2016, according to Analysys data cited by Hillhouse Capital.
* Mobile pay is growing so rapidly in mainland China that as a foreigner, I sometimes found it difficult to complete basic transactions without it.
* The dominance of mobile transactions lends itself to greater data collection by the Chinese government.
Mobile pay is taking China by storm and changing daily commerce.
The transformation of a society limited to bills denominated in 100 yuan ($15) or less into one where QR payment codes abound was by far the biggest change in mainland China since my last visit four years ago.
When eating out or shopping with local friends, they paid by scanning a QR code on the restaurant table or by showing a similar code on their smartphones to the store clerk. A spices shop, museum souvenir store and seller of traditional Chinese calligraphy brushes all had signs saying they accepted mobile pay.
Rather than, "Do you take credit cards?" the question was often "Do you take Alipay? WeChat Pay?" The running joke was that street beggars would rather take a mobile donation than cash.
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WNU Editor: On my last trip to China I saw this system being employed for the first time .... and I was impressed. The fact that this service is now almost universal throughout China does not surprise me. It has fundamentally changed how the Chinese economy works, and just another indication on why China will be the world's dominant economic power in the future. Speaking of China dominating the world, here is another article .... China on Pace to Dethrone the US (James Holbrooks, AntiMedia).
1 comment:
You confuse reasons with symptoms. That the Chinese will rule the economy is a symptom. That wechat is booming is a symptom. The reason is because they deny our tech companies fair access to their market - a market made of nearly 20% of the world population. Wechat can however be installed all over the world. There is no outside competition in their market. Facebook google Whatsapp they are all blocked. We're heading for world war 3 for sure übles this stops immediately because it'll take a decade until the market is back to normal - a balanced system. Right now the Chinese are stealing from us. That's the reason. Them getting rich is a symptom of an out of balance growth with no competition. Whenever this happens in nature there's usually a collapse of the ecosystem.
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