Difficulty Ordering Online Without a Chinese Phone Number
Chinese phone numberonline orderingdigital paymenttravel inconvenience
Summary
Foreign travelers in China face a major barrier when trying to order online services (e.g., food delivery, ride-hailing) because many platforms require a Chinese phone number for registration and verification. International numbers are often not accepted, forcing travelers to rely on hotel staff or go without. This has no good solution as temporary Chinese numbers are hard to obtain and existing eSIMs usually don't include a local number.
Reddit context (brief)
Short excerpts derived from discussions—open the source links for full threads.
Requiring a Chinese phone number to order online services makes it difficult for foreign travelers without one.
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