China is about to cross the threshold to becoming a cashless society. Though cash still exists, many Chinese today never touch paper bills or plastic debit or credit cards at all in their day to day life. Increasingly now, financial transactions in the Chinese economy are taking place through payment apps on smartphones. Imagine a leaving your house in China and hailing a taxi that you pay for by scanning a
QR code on an app, buying food from a street vender again with a phone app, since no cash is accepted, then later going out for lunch by renting a bike just by scanning its QR code. At the restaurant, just input the price of the meal into the app to pay again. On the way home, you may feel charitable, so you give money to a street beggar performing a song for money, again within the app, before stopping at a Buddhist temple where you can increase your karma by donating with the app. READ MORE
