Before heading to his favorite restaurants or smaller eateries, Roberto, an Argentine man in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, usually goes online first. "At a virtual restaurant, everything is set. Even the dishes you are going to order can be selected online," he said.

"Cash in China is increasingly unnecessary," Roberto said. "The only time I used cash was to refill my transit card, and now you can do that with Alipay. Any other kind of purchase can be done through WeChat or Alipay, from a few cents to thousands of yuan."

What's more, "Alipay and WeChat offer services for purchasing cinema tickets and many applications for buying all kinds of events online, or discounts at restaurants", he added.