2026 Full Guide - Tour Card for Foreigners – The Lightweight Temporary Payment Solution in China

We recommend reading the overview guide How Foreigners Pay in China - A Complete Guide to Mobile Payments first for better context

What is Tour Card?

Author’s recommendation: Tour Card is indeed lighter and simpler, but it comes with a top-up service fee and can only be applied for inside mainland China. Therefore, I strongly suggest directly registering Alipay or WeChat Pay and binding your foreign bank card. This method has no top-up fees and you can finish everything before arriving in China. See the two full guides here:

1. A Foreigner’s Guide to Registering and Using Alipay in China
2. How Foreigners Can Sign Up for WeChat Pay (WeXin Pay) and Use It in China

Tour Card is a prepaid card service launched by Bank of Shanghai, offering short-term visitors to China a lighter, more lightweight digital payment option.After filling in the required identity information and passing verification, you’ll receive a temporary payment account that works throughout mainland China. You top up this account using your overseas bank card (note: a service fee applies), and once funded, the balance can be linked to both Alipay and WeChat Pay for everyday spending.

Tour Card Usage Rules

1. Available only to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas individuals aged 18 or above
2. The account is valid for one year from the date of issuance. Upon expiration, it will be automatically frozen. You may then choose to request a refund, close the account, or reactivate it (reactivation grants another full year of validity)
3. Supported card types for top-up: Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club International, JCB
4. A 5% service fee is charged on every top-up
5. Within the one-year validity period, the total top-up limit is 50,000 RMB. To top up more, you must wait until the card expires and then reactivate it
6. The account can only be used for spending inside mainland China. It does not support person-to-person transfers, wealth management products, red packets, or any other non-consumption features
7. The account can only be applied for starting from the day after you enter mainland China (applications from outside the country are not accepted)

How to Apply for Tour Card

1. In the search bar at the top of Alipay or WeChat, type Tour Card — the official mini-program will appear immediately

   Extra note: There is also a Tour Card entrance on WeChat’s “Bank Cards” page. Although the underlying service is still provided by Bank of Shanghai and functions identically, that entrance is operated by a third-party company and can be unstable. It’s strongly recommended to use the official Tour Card mini-program directly

2. Because the system must confirm you are physically in mainland China, turn on your phone’s location services and grant the app permission to access your location
3. Once inside the Tour Card mini-program, swipe through the introductory slides to read the latest terms and rules
4. Tap 【Use Now】 to enter the application page. You can choose between:
   • Standard Card (annual top-up limit: 50,000 RMB)
   • Experience Card (annual top-up limit: 14,000 RMB; you can later apply to upgrade the limit)
5. Fill in your personal identity information and submit. After submission, the app will show the expected review time (usually within 3 business days)
6. Once approved, you can top up the account and bind it to Alipay or WeChat Pay on the page. (For manual binding, simply follow the “Adding a Bank Card” section in the Alipay and WeChat guides linked at the beginning of this article — just use the Tour Card number to bind.)