Alipay updates digital wallet with more foreign language translations
Editor's note:
Shanghai has made intensive efforts to improve payment services for foreigners, ranging from cash, mobile payments to foreign card acceptance. Let's check out what the city has been doing to make it easier for foreigners visiting China.
The auto-translation function covers most common service features on Alipay.
The newest version of the Alipay digital wallet has been updated to feature translation services covering 15 foreign languages amid continued efforts to benefit overseas travelers.
Besides English, Alipay now supports auto translation from Chinese to 14 more foreign languages: French, German, Spanish, Malay, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese.
The translation tool can be activated or turned off from Alipay's setting page.
Go to the settings page in the top right corner, find "General" and go to "Translation Tool" for easy access.
The auto-translation function covers most common service features on Alipay such as taxi hailing; hotel bookings; ticket bookings and purchases at tourist attractions; taking public transportation; power bank renting; and exchange rate inquiries.
Users can also leave voice messages or take photos to translate between different languages.
Users can also take a photo or leave voice messages to translate between different languages.
As part of China's efforts to better assist overseas travelers, the central bank announced earlier this month that the upper limit for each single transaction for overseas travelers using mobile payments was raised from US$1,000 to US$5,000.
Separate data also shows a strong rebound of foreign visitors spending through mobile payments.
A simple guide to using Alipay at local merchants and online service providers.
Shanghai was ranked the most popular inbound tourist city in 2023 with the highest spending through mobile payment platforms besides the Greater Bay Area, according to data from Alipay and other foreign digital wallets.
In the fourth quarter, inbound travelers' transaction volume jumped 13 times from the first quarter of last year.
At the flagship store of Shanghai First Food Mall on the Nanjing Road E pedestrian street, a series of training sessions have been carried out to better serve overseas customers. In January, overseas payment value at the food vendor jumped 242 percent from a year earlier.
Overseas visitors have already been able to link an international credit or debit cards from Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club and have the choice at tens of millions of Alipay acceptance locations across the country where QR codes are the most popular form of payment.
A traveller from Thailand pays for local delicacies on the Nanjing Road E pedestrian street with True Money.
