China Step by StepPractical intelligence

DiDi and taxis in China

Ride-hailing is the part of Chinese transport that works best for a visitor who does not read Chinese, because the destination is typed rather than spoken. There are three official routes to a car: the mainland DiDi app, the ride-hailing entry inside Alipay or WeChat, and a street taxi. The first of those has a trap that English guides frequently get backwards, and the last has a legal guarantee attached to it that makes it the fallback when everything electronic has failed.

Should I do it before China?

Yes — finish this before you fly

Registering a ride-hailing app on arrival day is the wrong order. Registration needs an SMS code, and international roaming or a freshly installed eSIM may not receive it at the moment you are standing at the airport kerb. Download the app at home, register there, and add the card there. Street taxis need nothing prepared, but they are the fallback, not the plan.

How

  1. Do before arrivalDownload the mainland China app, named 滴滴出行 / DiDi. This is not the same application as DiDi-Rider, which is what DiDi operates in overseas markets such as Latin America and which does not hail cars in mainland China.1
  2. Do before arrivalRegister in the app before you fly. Official guidance states that it supports registration with a foreign phone number and a foreign bank card, and that ride-hailing is available as soon as registration is complete.1
  3. Can do in ChinaTo order a car: open the app, confirm the pick-up address and the destination, and choose a service type — the official list is express, taxi, premier and luxury.1
  4. Can do in ChinaYou do not have to install DiDi at all. In Alipay, tap Travel and then Taxi, and enter the pick-up address and destination; in WeChat, tap Me, then Services, scroll to Transport Services or DiDi, and do the same.2
  5. Do before arrivalFor the airport transfer specifically, Trip.com’s airport pick-up service accepts direct payment by international bank card, which takes the registration and card-binding problem out of your first hour in the country.2
  6. Do before arrivalGive the driver the destination in Chinese characters, not an English name or pinyin: show the hotel’s Chinese business card, a screenshot of the Chinese address, or the Chinese name selected in a map app. No official source states this; it is editorial judgement.4
  7. Can do in ChinaKeep a reserve of small notes for taxis. Street-hailed taxis must accept RMB cash under the 2020 People’s Bank announcement, which is what makes this the method that survives a dead phone. How much to carry is a number this site does not publish: no official body recommends an amount for foreign visitors, and any figure would be editorial judgement rather than a sourced one.3

What can go wrong

You searched your app store for "DiDi" at home and installed the first result.

What to do instead Check the name. In European app stores the search commonly returns DiDi-Rider, DiDi’s overseas application, which cannot hail a car in mainland China. The one you need is the mainland app, 滴滴出行 / DiDi.1

The app will not accept your foreign bank card during registration.

What to do instead Official guidance says foreign cards are supported for registration but does not list the accepted card networks, and this has not been field-verified. Use the ride-hailing entry inside Alipay or WeChat instead and pay with the card already in that wallet.1

Your phone is out of battery or all payment apps are failing, and you still need a car.

What to do instead Hail a taxi on the street and pay cash. PBOC Announcement [2020] No.18 makes RMB cash the most basic means of payment in China, states that no entity or individual may refuse it, and names railways, buses and taxis among those who must accept it.3

You try to pay a taxi with a Visa or Mastercard and the driver refuses.

What to do instead That is normal — the in-car card terminal generally does not handle cards issued outside China, and "must accept cash" does not mean "can change a 100-yuan note" either, especially late at night. Pay in small notes, or run the whole trip through a ride-hailing app so the app charges the fare.3

The driver does not recognise the hotel name you say out loud, or takes you to a different branch.

What to do instead Show the Chinese text rather than saying the name. Screenshot the Chinese address from the booking confirmation before you travel, and ask reception for a Chinese business card to carry once you have checked in. This is editorial advice with no official source behind it.4

The mini-programme inside Alipay or WeChat is mostly in Chinese and you cannot enter the pick-up point.

What to do instead The ride-hailing mini-programmes carry a higher proportion of Chinese than the standalone app, and entering a pick-up address means finding the place by its Chinese name. For the airport leg, book a Trip.com airport transfer in advance and pay by international card instead.2

Last verified and sources

Each record below is shown as provenance: who published it, what kind of document it is, how far it reaches and when we last checked it. The source’s own wording is not reproduced here — most of these documents are published in Chinese, and a translation of ours would be a paraphrase standing where a citation should be. Follow the link to read any of them in the original.

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