The digital yuan (e-CNY) for visitors to China

Yes, in the parts of China where it is being piloted, which include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu. You can open a basic wallet in the official e-CNY app with an overseas mobile number and load it from a Visa or Mastercard card. Officials say numbers from more than 210 countries and regions are accepted; we found no test of UK numbers or UK cards in particular, so try signing up before you fly. It makes a useful second way to pay, but most visitors still find Alipay or WeChat Pay easier, and shops should not refuse cash.

What the e-CNY is

The e-CNY, or digital yuan, is China's currency in digital form. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, issues it, and authorised banks and payment companies open and run people's wallets. Until the end of 2025 it was treated as digital cash. Since 1 January 2026 banks have paid interest on money in real-name wallets, at their usual rates for instant-access savings. Every report of that change speaks of real-name wallets, and the basic wallet a visitor opens with a phone number is anonymous, so it is unlikely to apply to you.

Where you can use it

The e-CNY is still officially a pilot rather than a national launch. Since at least 2024 it has covered the same 26 areas, in 17 of China's provinces and regions: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Xi'an and Changsha; the whole of Guangdong (so Guangzhou and Shenzhen), Sichuan (so Chengdu), Jiangsu, Hebei and Hainan; Hangzhou and five other cities in Zhejiang; and Dalian, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Jinan, Qingdao, Nanning, Fangchenggang, Kunming and Xishuangbanna.

In those places you can pay at shops and restaurants that take it, and on large online services such as Didi for taxis, Meituan for food delivery and JD.com for shopping. It is taken in far fewer places than the two big payment apps. In May 2026 Reuters quoted industry sources saying it was unlikely to shift everyday habits built around Alipay and WeChat Pay, and one of them called it unfriendly to foreigners.

Setting up the app

The official app is called e-CNY (数字人民币 in Chinese). Apple's UK App Store lists it free, with English among its languages, and the official 2024 guide for visitors says to look for it on Google Play as well. You sign up with your mobile number: numbers from more than 210 countries and regions are accepted, so you don't need a Chinese SIM.

A phone number on its own gets you the basic, anonymous wallet, known as Class IV. You don't need your passport, a Chinese bank account or a trip to a bank. The higher wallet levels need real-name checks, which 2023 reports said call for a Chinese identity card, so in practice a visitor stays on the basic wallet.

Limits on the basic wallet

• At most 2,000 yuan in one payment and 5,000 yuan in a day.
• At most 10,000 yuan in the wallet at any time.
• At most 50,000 yuan of payments in a year.

These are the published ceilings for a Class IV wallet, and the bank or company running your wallet can set lower ones. The official figures we found are on Hong Kong government pages, for wallets opened with Hong Kong numbers. Chinese press reports give the same payment and daily figures for the wallet visitors open, and older reports the same balance and yearly caps, so check the limits shown in the app.

Topping up and getting your money back

Since September 2023 you can load the wallet in advance from a Visa or Mastercard card. You can also link the card and pay straight from it as you go, without loading the wallet first; early in 2025 those were the only two card networks that worked. Bank branches can top up a wallet with cash too.

Whatever is left when you go home can be sent back to the card you topped up from. We found no official word on whether topping up or sending money back costs anything, so don't assume it is free, and check what your own card charges for payments in a foreign currency.

Cards and SIMs instead of the app

Some cities offer the e-CNY on a physical card or a SIM, which can suit a short stay. Shenzhen has a hardware wallet card for visitors without a Chinese phone number or bank account: you load it with cash or a Visa or Mastercard card, and when you leave you can have the balance refunded or keep the card for your next trip. Cards like this pay with a tap and work without a signal or a battery. At Beijing's Capital and Daxing airports, visitors can get a SIM card at a China Unicom counter with their passport; staff load e-CNY onto it, and you pay by tapping your phone.

e-CNY, Alipay, WeChat Pay or cash?

For most visitors Alipay or WeChat Pay, linked to a UK card, is the simpler choice, because far more places take them. With a foreign card, WeChat Pay charges nothing on payments of up to 200 yuan and a service fee of 3% of the whole payment above that, and for 60 days after you first link a card it also waives the fee on payments under 1,000 yuan. Alipay has charged in the same way, but we found no recent official statement of its terms. Offers like this change, so check the fee the app shows before you pay. The limits for foreign cards are higher than the e-CNY's too: up to US$5,000 a payment and US$50,000 a year.

Carry some cash as well, though not only cash. Since 2018 China's central bank has said that nobody may refuse yuan notes and coins unless the law requires another way to pay, and new rules from 1 February 2026 repeat that for businesses that take payment in person. The e-CNY is worth setting up as a second way to pay in the pilot cities, or if you would rather not depend on the two big apps.

Checked November 2026. Sources: Xinhua (gov.cn) · Shanghai International Service Portal · Hong Kong Monetary Authority · Beijing Municipal Government · People's Bank of China · Reuters, via The Jakarta Post.