# Purchasing a Chinese number > Step-by-step guide to buying a mainland China mobile number via WeChat and eSender: registration, passport verification, payment and activation for banking and business. Author: Дана Берзег — юрист, Family Office (https://wiki.private.law/authors/berzegova) Last modified: 2026-07-04T23:27:00.000Z Canonical: https://wiki.private.law/en/chinese-phone-number Topics: banking Jurisdictions: china Functional tags: neobank, corporate-banking, chinese-banking Semantic tags: neobank, corporate-banking, chinese-banking --- Lawyer, Family Office --- A mainland Chinese (+86) number is the credential the country's real-name systems check before they let you operate locally: full Alipay, mainland banking and exchange logins, and the SMS codes that reach only Chinese lines. The walkthrough below obtains one remotely, through a Hong Kong reseller reached inside WeChat, so begin by installing WeChat (App Store or Google Play) and registering an account. # Why a mainland number still matters > 🔗 **Related** > [Hong Kong banking](https://wiki.private.law/en/hong-kong-bank-account) · [renminbi clearing](https://wiki.private.law/en/bank-of-china-hong-kong) · [WorldFirst](https://wiki.private.law/en/worldfirst-china-supplier-payments) WeChat itself registers and runs on any international number, so the friction sits downstream. Alipay often asks for a Chinese number; mainland bank and brokerage apps, identity- and health-style services, and two-factor codes from platforms that text only +86 lines all assume you hold one. Since 2023 both WeChat Pay and Alipay accept foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Amex cards, which is enough for a visitor paying for taxis and meals. Those foreign cards sit under hard caps — roughly 6,500 RMB a transaction, 50,000 RMB a month and 65,000 RMB a year — and they cannot send red packets or peer-to-peer transfers. A real-name +86 line, bound to a local wallet or bank card, lifts you from tourist-grade payments to resident-grade access. That is why families operating into China keep one alongside their Hong Kong banking and renminbi clearing, and route supplier settlement through services such as WorldFirst. # The real-name regime behind it China retired the anonymous SIM years ago. Since 1 December 2019 the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has required carriers to run a live portrait comparison — your face matched against the identity document on file — before any new number is issued, and operators may no longer let subscribers pass SIMs between themselves. The stated purpose is fraud control and a complete real-name register. For a foreigner inside China, the counter route is a passport and a valid visa at an official carrier shop, with roughly three lines allowed per passport. The remote route in this guide reproduces the same check: you upload your passport pages and a selfie, and the number activates only once that verification clears. The line is then registered to you by name and face, so treat it as your own, not a throwaway. > 🧭 Because the number carries your verified identity, keep the account details safe and renew before the rental lapses; an expired line can be released to someone else. # 🍓 WeChat registration 1. Install the WeChat app on your phone 2. Open the app 3. ClickSign upandSign up with Mobile 4. Full Name,Phone andPassword— name, phone number and new password 5. ClickI have read…andNext 6. In subsequent windows clickNextandI have read… 7. In theSecurity Verificationwindow clickStart 8. Verification can be completed via bank card 9. InVerification SuccessfulclickBack to Sign Up 10. InCodeenter the WeChat code that will be sent to your phone number and clickSubmit 11. Full NameandBirthday— name and date of birth 12. ClickNext 13. InBirthdatere-enter your date of birth, clickOKandConfirm 14. In subsequent windows clickI have read…,NextandDone 15. WeChat registration is complete # 🍓 Purchasing a Chinese number 1. Open WeChat 2. In the bottom menu clickContacts 3. Click the first lineNew friends 4. Click in the upper left cornerAdd Contacts 5. SelectScan QR codeand scan the code from the private.law team 6. Then write in the chat toprivate.lawa request to confirm the friend request 7. After being added as a friend, click the eSender link sent by the team in the WeChat dialogue 8. ClickFollow Official AccountandAllow 9. In the new window clickKeep Go 10. If the page below opens, clickMessage 11. Click the center buttonE-senderand then first in the listRegistration Service. 12. SelectMainland China NumberandA brand new Number Registration 13. Complete the form - Gender, Customer name and Contact No.— gender, name and phone number - Type of document— Passport - Nationality— your nationality from the list provided - Please input Document No.— your passport number - Verification Code— code from the image 1. ClickConfirm 2. Select one number from the list of Chinese numbers provided, clickSelected NumberandConfirm > 💡 For convenience, save the selected phone number in notes. You will need it in step 27 1. Scroll down the user agreement and check✓next toI agree…andl do not agree with Multibyte in Hong Kong…, and clickConfirm 2. For payment in rubles onlyYooMoneyis available. SelectYooMoneyand clickPayment.If you have a foreign card or PayPal you can try other payment methods 3. On the payment page, clickSign in or Sign up 4. Authorize using the phone number and password that were set in steps 2 and 4 of YooMoney registration 5. ClickPay > 💡 Rental period — 180 days. Price — HKD 88, about US$11 (set by the reseller and subject to change). 1. After payment, clickReturn to site 2. In the eSender bottom menu, selectMy A/CandAccount Information 3. ClickReal Name RegistrationandContinue 4. Clickthe red buttonandAllow 5. Close the new WeChat login window and upload photos - Passport cover - Main passport page spread - Selfie 1. Clickwhere you areand confirm location 2. ClickSubmitandConfirm 3. Done. Data submitted for verification 4. After verification, your Chinese number will be active within 2-24 hours 5. All received SMS will be visible in the eSender section in WeChat chats > 💡 SMS in chat are deleted after 72 hours # eSIM and the other ways in > 🔗 **Related** > [Opening a bank account in Hong Kong](https://wiki.private.law/en/hong-kong-bank-account) · [Bank of China (Hong Kong)](https://wiki.private.law/en/bank-of-china-hong-kong) · [WorldFirst supplier payments](https://wiki.private.law/en/worldfirst-china-supplier-payments) · [neobank licence in Hong Kong](/en/fintech-license-map) · [Citibank Hong Kong](https://wiki.private.law/en/citibank-hong-kong) · [Passport Index and mobility](https://wiki.private.law/en/passport-index) Mainland carriers kept eSIM off consumer phones for years. That changed on 13 October 2025, when MIIT cleared eSIM nationwide and China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom switched it on. The reach is still narrow: you activate in a carrier store with identification, and profiles mostly load onto handsets sold inside China, while iPhones bought abroad cannot install a mainland-carrier eSIM profile. Travel eSIMs are a different product: they deliver data over roaming and carry a foreign number, so they never satisfy a +86 real-name check. Until in-store eSIM opens to visitors and foreign devices, a rented, real-name mainland line obtained the way described above stays the practical route to a genuine Chinese number without travelling in to collect it. > 🍓 A Chinese number is infrastructure: the verified identity that mainland payment, banking and login systems assume you already have. Hold it like a bank login rather than a travel SIM, keep the account details, renew before it lapses, and copy any code quickly, since SMS in the eSender thread clears after 72 hours. --- --- ## Factual claims - Lawyer, Family Office - A mainland Chinese (+86) number is the credential the country's real-name systems check before they let you operate locally: full Alipay, mainland banking and exchange logins, and the SMS codes that reach only Chinese lines. - Those foreign cards sit under hard caps — roughly 6,500 RMB a transaction, 50,000 RMB a month and 65,000 RMB a year — and they cannot send red packets or peer-to-peer transfers. - Travel eSIMs are a different product: they deliver data over roaming and carry a foreign number, so they never satisfy a +86 real-name check.