How to Use WeChat for Yunnan Travel

WeChat is China’s Digital Vitality. More than 1 billion users are active each month, and this so-called “super pp” is ubiquitous in almost every aspect of daily life. Local people use it to chat with friends, publish updates, pay almost all fees or even more, which makes WeChat a mainstay of modern Chinese society.

Although WeChat may not be well-known outside Asia, it provides an easy-to-use English interface that tourists wishing to experience Yunnan culture first-hand can use. In the following guide, we will help you understand how to download and set up WeChat, how to use WeChat to keep in touch with people, and how to use WeChat to pay for shopping in Yunnan.

How to Set WeChat on Mobile Phone

• Download WeChat app from app store. Attention to potential imitators: The name of the app is WeChat

• After downloading the application, open it and click Register
• Type your phone number in the appropriate field.
  However, before this, you must consider whether you will use China’s SIM card in China. Some tourists choose to purchase China’s user identification cards when they arrive, so that they can keep in touch with their companions on the trip without using wireless networks. This is a reasonably priced option that allows you to continue to use most of your applications as usual, although you still need to install a virtual private network to use Instagram, Facebook and other applications that are blocked in China. You can read more about using mobile phones in China here.
  If you do plan to get a local user identification card when you arrive, it may be easier to wait until you have a new Chinese phone number before setting up WeChat. You can still use your foreign number to set it up, but once you insert the SIM card in China, you will have to update the number associated with your account, which may be troublesome.
  If you don’t plan to buy a mobile phone card when you arrive, you just need to set up WeChat with your normal number. Please ensure that the correct country code is selected according to your country of origin.
• WeChat will send a text verification code to the number you use to register, and then you will enter the verification code in the space provided. If you use your foreign number, please be sure to download and verify your phone number on WeChat before starting your trip, because you may not be able to get services after arriving in China, which may prevent you from receiving the verification text.
• Once you have verified your number, you will be prompted to enter your name and create a WeChat account to complete your account setup.

That’s it! You can now use WeChat to connect and communicate with other WeChat users.

How to add contacts on WeChat

To add other users, you need to enter the main “chat” page and click the small “+”icon in the upper right corner. From this menu, select Add Contact as follows:

From here, you can search for contacts in several ways. First of all, you can search for users by entering their phone number or WeChat number in the space at the top of the screen.

Set up WeChat payment

Unfortunately, now you can only top up with Chinese bank/credit card. Although WeChat will allow you to add a foreign visa or MasterCard number to your account, this is for verification purposes only and you will not be able to use the card to make purchases in China or recharge your WeChat account.

However, don’t worry. There is another way! The first obstacle is the application of WeChat payment function. For those who download WeChat using a Chinese user identification card, this option will automatically appear under the “I” tab of your WeChat profile. After WeChat payment is enabled, your personal data page is as follows.

However, those who download the international version of WeChat from their home countries may not see WeChat payment options on the home page. No matter whether WeChat payment function appears or not, in order to use it, you need one of your WeChat friends (who have already set up WeChat payment) to send you a “red envelope”, which is basically a direct transfer of funds.

Just click on the red packet and then click “open” to accept the transmission.

Receiving red envelopes will put some money into your WeChat balance, and WeChat payment function should appear in your personal data, if not already. Then you can use this balance to pay for shopping through WeChat!

At some point in the process, you will be prompted to set up the 6-digit personal identification code of your choice. Please remember this, because you need to enter a password whenever you pay.

If you are on one of our trips, your tour guide or travel expert can give you red envelopes and help you set up WeChat payment.

WeChat for Yunnan Travel

WeChat public platform is a new function module added by Tencent on the basis of WeChat. Through this platform, individuals and enterprises can create a WeChat public number and realize full access communication and interaction with specific groups of characters, pictures and voices.Next, I will introduce you to some excellent Yunnan tourism public numbers.

1.TransAsiaDiscovery云南亚索旅业

Public number：gh_20b96f71ea39

Yunnan TransAsiaDiscovery Travel Industry is the first portal for inbound tourism in Yunnan. After more than ten years of development, it mainly manages the routine tourism and various tourism theme activities in China “especially Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Tibet”, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia along the Trans-Asian Railway.

2.Yunnan Chunwan Commune/云南纯玩公社

Public number: chunwanyunnan

Return to the essence of tourism and make Yunnan tourism pure. Only do tourism products that have no hidden consumption and do not enter shopping shops. Refuse to shop, force consumption and take a tour.

3.Life in Kunming/昆明生活

Public number: wkm8899

Recommend life information around Kunming, Kunming beer and skittles information, travel, anecdotes, entertainment, various discounts and activities in Kunming, etc.

The above is a tutorial on how to use WeChat and the recommendation of the public number for traveling in Yunnan. Please consult the staff of the website for more information.

Edited by Hellen He/何琴