How to Pay for the Subway in China: The 2026 Foreigner's Guide

For a complete overview of all payment options in China, please read our Ultimate Guide to Paying in China.

Until mid-2025, riding the metro in China meant one of two things: getting an Alipay transport code to work with your foreign card, or queuing at a service counter with cash. That has changed. China's five biggest metro systems for international visitors now accept foreign bank cards directly at the fare gates, and for most travelers this is now the simplest option by a wide margin.

This guide covers which cities support card tap, what your card needs, the small catches nobody mentions, and what to do in cities that don't support it yet. If you want to know whether you still need cash in China, see our dedicated cash guide.

Which Chinese Metros Accept Visa & Mastercard Tap?

All of the cities below support tapping a foreign card at the gate across the entire network, confirmed by the city government or the card network itself:

Sources: Beijing Municipal Government, Shanghai Municipal Government, Guangzhou Municipal Government, Shenzhen Municipal Government, Chengdu Metro (via China News Service), and Visa. UnionPay cards work in all five cities as well.

How to Ride with Your Card: Step by Step

Before you leave home

1. Check the contactless symbol (the four curved lines) on your card. No symbol, no tap.
2. Turn on contactless and small no-PIN payments in your banking app if your bank lets you switch them off. Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu all list this as a requirement — the gate can't ask you for a PIN.
3. Tell your bank you're traveling to China so the first tap doesn't get flagged as fraud.
4. Check your foreign transaction fee. Every ride is a separate card transaction in CNY. A 3% fee on a ¥4 ride is tiny, but some banks add a fixed fee per foreign transaction, which adds up fast over 20 rides. A no-FX-fee card such as Wise or Revolut avoids this.

At the station

1. Walk to a gate showing the Visa / Mastercard / UnionPay logos. In Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu every gate accepts cards; in Guangzhou, look for the logo on the gate.
2. Hold your card flat on the card reader for a second until the gate opens. This is the card reader, not the QR code scanner, which is usually a separate window.
3. At your destination, tap the same card again to exit. The fare is calculated by distance and charged after you exit, at the standard local fare.

Can I Tap with Apple Pay or Google Pay?

It depends on the city, and this is where most of the confusion online comes from:

• Shenzhen officially confirms that you can tap a phone or device with your foreign card in a mobile wallet.
• Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu only mention physical contactless cards in their official announcements. Traveler reports for phone wallets are mixed. Tap the physical card to be safe.

Don't confuse this with Apple Wallet "Transit Cards". Apple Wallet lets you add Beijing or Shanghai transit cards, but travelers consistently report that topping them up requires a Chinese UnionPay bank card. Tapping your Visa or Mastercard through Apple Pay is a completely different thing.

What About Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing and Other Cities?

As of October 2026, we have not found an official announcement of foreign Visa or Mastercard gate tap in Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing, Wuhan or other cities. Many of these cities accept UnionPay contactless at the gate, but not foreign card networks. What you can do instead:

• Use the Alipay or WeChat Pay Transport Code (instructions below) — this is the best option in these cities.
• Try the Nihao China app, which offers one metro QR code for 43 cities.
• Buy a ticket with your foreign card at the counter. Chongqing's metro accepts Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Amex at the ticket windows in every station, and Xi'an accepts foreign cards at the service centers of 13 hub stations. You then use the ticket at the gate.

New cities have been joining every few months, so check for the card network logos on the gate when you arrive.

Comparing Your Options at a Glance

How to Use Alipay or WeChat Pay as a Subway Pass

In cities without card tap, the Transport Code is your best option. Both Alipay and WeChat Pay generate a special QR code for subway and bus systems, charged to the foreign card you've linked.

Steps to Activate:

1. Open Alipay or WeChat Pay.
2. Find the transport function. In Alipay, go to [Transport]. In WeChat Pay, go to [Me] > [Services] > [Ride].
3. Select the city you are in from the dropdown list.
4. Agree to the terms and activate the service. The app will generate a QR code.
5. To use it, hold the QR code over the scanner on the subway gate. You scan once to enter and once again to exit. The fare is calculated and deducted automatically.

Tip: activate the code at your hotel before you go to the station. If you get an error or it asks for a Chinese ID, buy a ticket instead — and in the five card-tap cities, simply tap your card.

Physical Transit Cards and Single Tickets

If you're staying a long time in one city, a reusable transit card can still make sense. Go to the Service Center (客服中心 - kèfú zhōngxīn) and say "wǒ yào mǎi yì zhāng kǎ" (我要买一张卡). You pay a refundable deposit (押金 - yājīn), typically 20 RMB, plus an initial balance. Cash is the easiest way to pay at many service centers.

For a single trip, buy a single-journey ticket from the automatic ticket machines (most have an English option). In Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu the machines also accept foreign cards. You tap the ticket to enter and insert it into a slot to exit.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)