At the 10th Silk Road Expo, the payment field presented a completely new picture.
On May 22, the Xi’an International Convention and Exhibition Center was packed with people, and many foreign exhibitors started a different kind of consumption experience on site.
Foreign exhibitors such as Ms. Thu from Vietnam and Mr. Smovang from Laos took out their mobile phones, opened the e-wallets commonly used in their countries, pointed at the WeChat payment QR code on the booth, and completed a purchase in a few seconds.
Ms. Thu from Vietnam said with emotion: “It’s exactly the same as my domestic payment, very convenient.” Behind this is Tencent’s reliance on the TenPay Global cross-border payment platform to build a borderless payment network covering “inbound payment – full-scenario consumption – departure tax refund”, allowing friends from all over the world to make purchases in China “silky and smooth”.
In the past, merchants like Ms. Thu from Vietnam faced many difficulties when coming to China for consumption.
A few years ago, they always had to go through a lot of trouble before making purchases: converting RMB cash in advance and worrying about exchange rate losses; downloading unfamiliar payment apps and feeling overwhelmed by the all-Chinese interface; binding international bank cards, the process is cumbersome and some scenarios are limited.
Now, all these problems are being rewritten by a series of cross-border payment solutions.
In September 2025, the “Cross-border QR Code Unified Gateway” built under the guidance of the People’s Bank of China was officially launched. This national-level cross-border payment infrastructure has built a “highway” for global payment interconnection.
As one of the first operating organizations, Tencent has been deeply involved in the construction of the “Unified Gateway”, further upgraded the “outsourced internal use” service of WeChat payment, and promoted interconnection with more than 40 overseas wallet institutions around the world.
At this year’s Silk Road Expo, in the “Huitong Ancient and Modern Silk Road
At the “Coin Builds a Cross-Border Golden Bridge” international financial cooperation and exchange event, Tencent Group and Eldik Bank, the largest commercial bank in Kyrgyzstan, reached a cross-border QR code payment interconnection cooperation.
With the implementation of the cooperation between the two parties, tourists and business people from Central Asian countries visiting China can complete their purchases by opening their home country wallets and scanning the WeChat payment QR code.
Up to now, WeChat Pay’s “outsourcing and internal use” has covered 13 countries and regions and 36 types of overseas wallets, from WeChat Hong Kong dollar wallet, Vietnam’s MOMO to Laos’ BCEL, to Kyrgyzstan’s EldikBank signed at the Silk Road Expo. More and more overseas wallets are connected to the Chinese merchant network through the “unified gateway”.
Tencent Financial Technology Vice President Chen Qiru introduced at the event that TenPay Global has also made in-depth localization adaptations for overseas wallets.
After overseas users scan the QR code, a familiar wallet UI pops up – the button layout, font size, and theme color are exactly the same as those used in their home countries. At the same time, the real-time exchange rate and local currency deduction amount are displayed in the front, truly realizing “what you see is what you pay”.
Whether it is a convenience store on the street, a souvenir shop in a scenic spot, or a stall at a night market, as long as there is a WeChat payment QR code, foreign friends can easily pay with their own wallets, completely saying goodbye to the trouble of cash exchange.
Ms. Thu from Vietnam understands this very well.
During the Silk Road Expo, she and her friends used the Vietnamese MOMO wallet to scan and pay for everything from the snack bar at the foot of the city wall to the cultural and creative store in Datang Evernight City.
She said: “Before I came here, I was worried about the language barrier and the inconvenience of payment. I didn’t expect that it would be the same as paying in Vietnam.”
If convenient payment is a “good start” for consumption in China, then efficient tax refund is a “heart-warming ending”.
At this year’s Silk Road Expo, Tencent also brought another service – it will pilot a departure tax refund facilitation service in key entry provinces and cities such as Shaanxi. Foreign friends can refund their tax refund directly to WeChat change or overseas e-wallet, and it can be credited within minutes, completely bidding farewell to the pain points of traditional tax refunds of “complicated procedures and slow arrival.”
In the past, foreigners had to fill in complex forms and queue up for review when applying for tax refunds when leaving the country. Tax refunds often took weeks to arrive, and were mostly issued in the form of cash or bank card transfers. The process was cumbersome and the experience was poor.
Today, Tencent has joined forces with tax refund banking institutions and relies on TenPay Global to digitize and simplify the tax refund process.
After foreign friends shop in Shaanxi, they can choose to refund directly to overseas e-wallets when leaving the country, and the tax refund will arrive within a few minutes without waiting.
Chen Qiru said that the closed-loop service of “entry payment-full-scenario consumption-departure tax refund” created by Tencent allows foreign friends to achieve a smooth experience of “borderless perception” when consuming in China.
