If AlipayHK covers your weekend, stop reading and go eat.

If you want Meituan without drama, higher WeChat Pay limits, fewer 12306 quirks or a long-stay rent deposit, you eventually need a real-name mainland mobile number and usually a mainland bank card. SaidOrSi’s SIM and bank videos remain some of the clearest Cantonese walkthroughs of that stack. Branch rules change — call ahead — but the shape of the path has been stable for years.

The take

  • Don’t kill the +86 after the bank account exists. Banks lean on that number for recovery. Cancelling it to “save ¥8” is a false economy.
  • Rare visitor? Use a Hong Kong one-card-two-number add-on. Frequent visitor? A cheap mainland 保號 plan is cheaper.
  • His post-reopening pick for opening an account: Bank of China, Home Return Permit + real-name mainland number.
  • Fund it with Payment Connect over FPS: HKMA caps northbound at HK$10,000/day and HK$200,000/year per institution.

Step 1: Get a real-name +86

Path A — Hong Kong carriers (rare visitors)

In 大陸號碼點申請？, he notes SmarTone, China Mobile Hong Kong, csl and 3 all sell dual-number or mainland secondary-number add-ons, usually in the low tens of HKD per month. One SIM story, Hong Kong billing, sometimes cheap cross-border call pickup. Downside: some numbers behave like virtual lines. Bank KYC QR checks and a few apps may fail until you collect a paper real-name certificate from the carrier — about a week in his experience.

Path B — Mainland carriers

Home Return Permit only, at China Mobile / Unicom / Telecom stores. He prefers 保號 number-keeping plans (Mobile and Unicom around ¥8/month, Telecom around ¥5 in his quotes) over fat data plans, because mainland mobile data will not reach WhatsApp, YouTube or Facebook. Stores are often agents, so quoted plans vary by shop and day. Numbers freeze after roughly two unpaid months and can be recycled after that — catastrophic if a bank still points at that MSISDN.

Path C — Promo Telecom SIMs in Shenzhen malls

In 免費3個月內地電話卡, China Telecom counters (Landmark Centre / 領展中心城, Kingglory Plaza) were handing prepaid SIMs with ¥100 credit to new Telecom customers on a Home Return Permit — enough for a few months at then-current fees, local calling around ¥0.1/min. Promotions expire. Ask at the counter. He still wants the card because some Beijing metro codes and third-party pay QR flows prefer a true mainland network, not Hong Kong roaming.

Keep the number alive with Alipay / WeChat phone top-up, or a yearly cash top-up at a store.

Step 2: Open the bank account

In 港人開大陸銀行戶口攻略 (730k+ views), his post-reopening shop-around:

Bank His take
Agricultural / Construction Often want mainland address proof or social-security history — skip for most HK visitors
ICBC Possible, but some branches only collect forms for HQ (~7 working days), not same-day cards
Bank of China Home Return Permit + real-name mainland number; same-day debit card in his Futian visit; waived card fee in that branch story

Process he filmed: show the carrier real-name page screenshot, watch a short compliance clip, fill forms (handwriting IME available), face checks, collect the card, bind it into the mainland WeChat wallet (switch wallet region to mainland China). Activation needed a tiny WeChat transfer in and out, or ¥100 into a BOC ATM.

Limits he was told at that branch: deposits free-form, cash withdrawals capped at ¥5,000/day until higher KYC (Hong Kong address proof such as a bank letter). Some mainland branches open weekends; not all.

Named branch managers and “lifetime free” claims are one visit’s anecdote. Policies differ by city and year.

Step 3: Move money with Payment Connect

Older AlipayHK / WeChat Pay HK remittance corridors have repeatedly blocked or limited payouts to Home Return Permit bank accounts. For bank-to-bank RMB, the cleaner rail is Payment Connect.

In 轉數快內地匯款攻略:

  1. In a participating Hong Kong bank app, open FPS / transfer → Mainland.
  2. Pay to a mainland mobile number (if the payee enabled mobile receipt) or bank account number + English name exactly as registered.
  3. Instant credit, no extra fee in his demo, works for friends — not only same-name accounts.

Official limits from the HKMA Payment Connect page: northbound HK$10,000 per person per day and HK$200,000 per person per year per participating institution, separate from the older same-name RMB remittance daily cap. Runs 24×7 northbound. Participating bank lists grow; check your app.

Same-name bank wires (BOCHK → mainland BOC) still help for larger amounts when fee waivers apply, but they’re slower than Payment Connect.

Minimal kit

  1. Valid Home Return Permit.
  2. Real-name +86 you’ll keep paying for.
  3. Bank of China (or your researched alternative) debit card bound to mainland WeChat / Alipay.
  4. Payment Connect enabled at a Hong Kong bank you already use.
  5. AlipayHK still installed as the zero-friction backup for tills.

Sources