China’s rising cashless society (2024)

This is a selection of resources on China’s rising cashless society available from the NLB catalogue or the Internet and is not meant to be an exhaustive list.

NLB print and digital resources

China’s fintech explosion: Disruption, innovation, and survival

In rapidly developing China, fintech is taking off amid a backdrop of growing consumption and a large, tech-savvy millennial generation. China’s Fintech Explosion explores the transformative potential of China’s financial-technology industry, covering subsectors such as digital payment systems, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, credit card issuance and internet banks, blockchain finance and virtual currencies, and online insurance.

Retrieved from OverDrive. (myLibrary ID login is required to access this ebook)

Super-sticky WeChat and Chinese society

This ebook provides a balanced and nuanced study of how the WeChat platform interweaves into the fabric of Chinese social and cultural life. It keeps the wider global and national social media landscape in view and compares and contrasts WeChat with Weibo, QQ and other Western social media platforms, including some of their mobile payment systems and their usage trends in China.

China is a pioneer in cashless transactions, propelled by Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay. According to the article’s forecast, around 60 percent of China’s 1.3 billion population will have made a purchase via mobile payment by 2023. As the trend continues, China may soon become a cashless economy, where digital payment methods totally replace cash.

China wants its rural villages to go cashless by 2020

Beijing announced its aim to make mobile payments within easy reach of its rural regions by the end of 2020. Guidelines (in Chinese) to make online financial services more accessible to rural residents have been jointly published by five Chinese regulating bodies including the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance.

The real fight for Chinese mobile payments isn’t taking place in China

Cashless China: Would you use your face to pay?

Facial recognition payments system is the next big thing in China’s cashless payment trend, and using it is very convenient and easy for those who have already tried the system.

This is China: The cashless era is coming

In 2018, a record 277.4 trillion RMB had transacted via mobile payments and as of June 2019, there were 633 million online payment users in China. The leap from cash to mobile payments was accelerated by advanced technologies and a high mobile penetration rate in the country.

China’s great leap to wallet-free living

In China, cash is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In this video, see how Alipay and WeChat Pay have become the mainstream mode of payment transactions in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where people generally do not use cash for their daily activities at all.

China blazes trail in facial recognition payment systems

No money? No cards? No phone? No problem! Just smile to pay for your purchases at this self-service supermarket at Tianjin, China. Facial recognition payment systems have been rolled out in over 100 Chinese cities by tech-giant Alibaba and are both convenient and safe. The system is designed to read nodal points in human faces which act as one’s facial signature.

China: A digital payments revolution

Alibaba and Tencent have been the main drivers for digital payments via mobile apps in China, particularly with their successful tie-up with retail platforms. In 2017, 890 million unique mobile payment users made around $17 trillion transactions and over a third of consumer payments in China are now cashless.

Payment methods in China: How China became a mobile-first nation

In 2018, around 83 percent of all payments in China were done via mobile phones, and the recent pandemic appears to have boosted online and mobile payment transactions in May 2020. The article also includes tips on how a foreigner can use mobile payment methods to boost their businesses in China.

Digitizing the Chinese New Year

In 2014, a digital hongbao feature was introduced by Tencent, a Chinese multinational conglomerate, as an alternative to the traditional gifting of red packets filled with money by elders to young people during Chinese New Year. From 2014 to 2018, over 769 million people had used this application to send virtual red packets to families and friends during Chinese New Year.

The real fight for Chinese mobile payments isn’t taking place in China

Before the end of 2017, Chinese shoppers will be able to use Baidu’s digital app to make payments at PayPal’s 17 million merchants worldwide, in a tie-up between the American payment company and the Chinese tech giant.

China sets up clearing house for online payment services like AliPay and Tenpay

China has set up a national clearing house for banks and online payment systems in order to route transactions starting from 30 June 2018. This move will help regulators track and monitor the capital flows from online transactions thereby creating a safer Internet payment environment for consumers.

Take a tour of a Hema Supermarket and experience “new retail”

This video introduces the Hema Supermarket in Shanghai, Alibaba’s “new retail” concept that merges online and in-store shopping to provide a seamless and more efficient shopping experience for consumers. Shoppers only need to download a mobile app and use their mobile phones to do the shopping by scanning barcodes to get instant product information.

Source: Alibaba Group

Last updated on Oct 2020

FAQs

Is China 100% cashless? ›

“China is one of the top countries for using cashless payment systems, but penetration is not 100%,” says Sara Hsu, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, specialising in supply chain management. “Elderly Chinese still often prefer to pay with cash and some struggle with using mobile payments.”

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Is China a cashless society? ›

As of June 2023, about 943 million people in mainland China used mobile payments, bolstering the country's status as the world's largest cashless society. Under the new guidelines published by Chinese authorities, domestic establishments must also expedite the use of cash and currency exchanges.

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Can we still use cash in China? ›

While digital payments are the norm in China, traditional methods like cash and cards are still accepted.

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Should I bring cash to China? ›

Taking cash to China

There are likely to be times in China when cash is handy - for smaller purchases, tipping and taxis for example. Having some cash in your pocket is also reassuring in case your preferred payment card isn't available or can't be accepted for some reason.

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Which country is 100% cashless? ›

With a date set in 2023 to go completely cashless, Sweden is arguably the closest country to achieve this. It is currently not uncommon to see signs that say “No Cash Accepted” in various shops in Sweden.

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Is cash still king in 2024? ›

Why cash is still king: investors take advantage of high interest rates and maximise flexibility. Cash is seen as the most attractive asset class moving into 2024, according to a new survey. But with interest rates forecast to drop, investors are likely to start reinvesting in risk assets soon.

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Is America going to a cashless society? ›

Progress of cashless initiatives in key countries

The US is moving toward cashless payments, with a substantial increase in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that payments made using cash accounted for just 18% of all US payments in 2022.

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Who is leading the cashless society? ›

China leads race to become world's top cashless society, says British expert. In China, the proportion of the total amount of money in circulation in the form of cash has dropped to 3.7 percent and is continuing to fall, said Matthews.

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Would a cashless society be bad? ›

The downsides of going cashless include less privacy, greater exposure to hacking, technological dependency, magnifying economic inequality, and more. Credit and debit cards, electronic payment apps, mobile payment services, and virtual currencies in use today could pave the way to a fully cashless society.

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What does China do with US dollars? ›

Chinese Economics

They sell the dollars they receive through exports to get RMB, which increases the USD supply and raises the demand for RMB. The PBOC can print yuan as needed. Effectively, this intervention by the PBOC creates a scarcity of U.S. dollars, which keeps the USD rates higher.

Can China keep printing money? ›

Usually, China keeps its. If the inflation rate is too low, central banks can issue more currency and decrease the interest rate. In the opposite scenario, if the inflation rate is too high central banks try to reduce the amount of money in circulation by increasing the interest rate or decreasing bond prices.

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How much dollar can I carry from China? ›

There are no quantitative restrictions imposed on foreign currencies, traveler's checks, or letters of credit brought in. However, inbound passengers shall declare to Customs if carrying foreign currencies in cash worth more than $5,000USD.

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Will China go cashless? ›

What happens if China asks for their money? ›

Consequences of Owing Debt to the Chinese

If China called in all of its U.S. holdings, the U.S. dollar would depreciate, whereas the yuan would appreciate, making Chinese goods more expensive.

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Do credit cards work in China? ›

Will my credit or debit card work in China? Most Chinese ATMs accept Visa (Plus), Cirrus and Maestro. They accept both chip-and-pin cards and cards with only a magnetic stripe on the back. There are also special ATMs for foreign cards in many major business and shopping areas.

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Does China still use paper money? ›

In the early 20th century, China started using a combination of banknotes and coins as money, which by then had become standard across the world. It remains the standard today, although electronic payments are threatening to make banknotes and coins obsolete.

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Is it illegal to not accept cash in China? ›

There is also probably a consideration of central bank sovereignty over monetary policy. The PBOC aims to assert its authority. It is illegal in China to reject cash payments, no matter what the preferences of merchants are.

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Which countries are totally cashless? ›

Sweden, the first European country to introduce banknotes in 1661, became the world's first cashless society on 24 March 2023. Finland and the UK are top–ranked to become cashless societies as well. Poland, on the other hand, has scrapped plans to limit cash payments to ensure freedom of choice.

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Is China currency all digital? ›

It is the first digital currency to be issued by a major economy, undergoing public testing as of April 2021. The digital RMB is legal tender and has equivalent value with other forms of renminbi, also known as the Chinese yuan (CNY), such as bills and coins.

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China’s rising cashless society (2024)

NLB print and digital resources

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FAQs

Is China 100% cashless? ›

Can China keep printing money? ›