Guides

Why Linux users in China care about WeChat (and why it’s messy) If you’re a United States expat, student, or researcher living in China — or planning to come — you know WeChat is not just a messenger. It’s your payments app, your campus noticeboard, your dumpling-ordering remote, and sometimes the only way your landlord texts you about rent. The German piece we pulled from the reference material lays it out: in China, mobile-first is not strategy, it’s default. WeChat is an ecosystem — chat, pay, marketplace, mini-programs, QR everything. That’s brilliant and inconvenient at the same time if you run Linux. ...

Why getting WeChat running is priority No.1 in China Listen — if you land in China and think WeChat is “just another chat app,” you’ll eat those words fast. For daily life here WeChat is phone + wallet + ID card + social life rolled into one. If you’re a US national or an international student, setting up WeChat quickly means you can order food, join class groups, pay rent (sometimes), scan QR codes to enter buildings, and avoid being that awkward foreigner who can’t split the bill. ...