Wechat and Alipay are really convenient though. I could see them enshittifying in the future, but right now they’re great.

Many of mainland China’s services require a phone number verification, and phone service require Identification

Some work with foreign numbers. Some require a passport photo.

Meituan works if you verify a foreign number the first time you scan a bike. Which is a problem if you don’t want to catch roaming charges. I had to drag a bike into wifi range so I could get the SMS verification via wifi the first time.