I Tried Using ONLY CASH in Shanghai for a Day | This is China?! Ep. 9

Over the past decade, China has quietly become dominated by QR codes. We scan to ride the metro, to order a meal, to add each other on WeChat. Almost any transaction involving another human ends with the same question: “Should I scan you, or you scan me?”

And as I have repeatedly heard from my foreign friends visiting China, the digital wall can feel… intimidating. Alipay, WeChat Pay, verification — a universal language everyone seems to speak.

Except the newcomer.

So I decided to spend a day doing the opposite — using only cash. Out of curiosity, yes. But also with a lot more anxiety (!!!) than I expected. Worried of awkward pauses; raised eyebrows; silent judgements.

From chain coffee shops to the metro, a temple canteen, trendy cafés, and even trying to hail a taxi — this is what happens when you move through Shanghai with only physical money, in a city that’s forgotten how to take it.