Wise, Revolut, and the Great Unknown: Europeans Grapple With Alipay and China's Digital Blackout
European interns heading to Shanghai face immediate payment friction; traditional debit and credit cards are largely unreliable. The practical hurdle centers on navigating Alipay compatibility using foreign digital assets like Wise or Revolut.
Advisement on VPNs is fractured: the thread pits the poster's planned Mullvad against community pushback advocating for LetsVPN or Astrill due to perceived efficacy in Chinese network restrictions. Payment advice similarly splits, with reports contradicting each other regarding direct European credit card use.
The group lacks a consensus on payment or connectivity. The primary division exists between specific corporate recommendations (e.g., Mullvad, Alipay) and repeated, conflicting user-generated advice concerning reliable financial rails and network circumvention tools.
Key Points
#1Traditional credit/debit cards fail in Shanghai.
The reality is that basic European card usage is unreliable for an intern in Shanghai.
#2Payment options involve high uncertainty.
Users are actively comparing Wise and Revolut against the Alipay framework, noting reports conflict on direct card acceptance.
#3VPN selection remains hotly contested.
There is a clear divide between adopting the poster's planned Mullvad setup versus relying on community-backed recommendations for LetsVPN or Astrill.
Source Discussions (3)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.