A passenger scans a QR code of Alipay, a mobile payment app, to take subway at the Fengtan Road Subway Station in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The amount of non-cash payments in China continued to rise from a year earlier in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a central bank report.
The amount of money involved in non-cash payments, including commercial papers, bank cards and other payment vehicles, was 960.89 trillion yuan (about 143.41 trillion U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter, up 0.33 percent year-on-year, according to the People's Bank of China.
Mobile payment became more popular among Chinese consumers. Banks and financial institutions transacted 78.22 trillion yuan of mobile payment, surging 45.47 percent year-on-year.
When eating out or shopping, it's common nowadays that Chinese consumers pay by scanning a QR code on the restaurant table or by showing a similar code on their smartphones to the store clerk.
The report also showed that online payment remained prevalent in the fourth quarter, with the total amount reaching 507.91 trillion yuan. Non-bank payment vehicles transacted 56.63 trillion yuan, up 22.26 percent from a year earlier. Enditem
