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In many places, if you leave the house without your wallet, you'll be in a tough spot all day. No way to pay for food, transportation or any of life's other necessities.
在很多地方，如果你出門不帶錢包，一整天都會過得非常艱難。你沒辦法支付食物、交通、以及其它任何生活必需品的費用。
But in China's largest cities, you can definitely survive without carrying a pocket full of cash and credit cards—as long as you've got your smartphone.
但是在中國的大都市，只要你帶上智能手機，即使沒有滿口袋的現金和信用卡，你也完全可以活下來。
When I lived in the United States, I didn't pay cash very often but I always carried my credit or debit cards. I wrote checks for my rent and paid most of my bills online.
我在美國生活的時候，一般都不用現金結賬，但我總是帶著信用卡或借記卡。我付房租的時候開支票，而且大多數賬單都在網上支付。
China's fast-developing mobile commerce industry is estimated to dwarf that of the US. so I set out to see how far a phone would get me in the country's capital.
中國快速發展的移動商業預計將遠超美國，所以我離開美國來到中國首都北京，來看看一部手機能讓我走多遠。
Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about going an entire day Beijing without my wallet, but I was surprised to discover just how easy and convenient it is.
說實話，我覺得不帶錢包在北京逛一天有點不太靠譜，但當我發現這樣既簡單又方便時，還有些驚喜。
I pay for breakfast by scanning a QR code on the window of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that sells jianbing, a delicious fried crepe that's one of China's most popular street breakfasts. My purchase costs 6 yuan (about 93 cents) and takes just a few seconds. All I have to do is input a password and the transaction is complete.
我在一家煎餅（一種美味的薄煎餅，中國最受歡迎的街頭早餐之一）小鋪買了早餐，掃了窗戶上的二維碼付款，一共花了六元（大約93美分），我要做的只是輸入密碼，整個過程只用了幾秒，交易就完成了。
At a nearby coffee shop, the barista scans a QR code on CNN news assistant Shen Lu's phone.
在附近一家咖啡館，咖啡師掃了CNN助理沈璐手機上的二維碼。
As we sip our coffee, Shen Lu pays her household water bill at the table. In seconds, she is able to transfer funds from one of several linked accounts. She regularly uses the same simple process to pay other bills and even her rent.
在我們品嘗咖啡期間，沈璐用手機付了她房子的水費。只幾秒鐘的時間，她就可以在幾個相互關聯的賬戶間轉移資金。她經常用同樣簡單的方法付其它的賬單，包括她的房租。
In Beijing, I can also pay by phone for movie tickets, takeout food and to shop for goods for delivery.
在北京，我也可以用手機支付電影票、外賣和網購的商品。
I use my phone to hail a taxi so I can meet Gu Yu, co-founder of a new payment app, Mileslife. Ride sharing using a mobile payment app allows us to save money by ordering multiple taxi stops and splitting the fare at the end.
我用手機叫了輛出租車，去會見一個新型支付應用邁生活的聯合創始人顧宇。用手機應用支付拼車費用可以給我們省下一筆錢，因為我們可以預定多個出租車站點，最后把費用都分攤掉。
Gu says many urban Chinese don't even bother with credit cards because they prefer to pay by phone.
顧宇說，在中國，很多城里人都不愛用信用卡，因為他們更喜歡用手機支付。
"It's what I'd call a late development advantage. China doesn't have a really lucrative credit card system," he says. "So Chinese just skipped credit cards and went to mobile payments."
“我把這種現象叫做后發優勢。中國并沒有一個真正利潤豐厚的信用卡體系，”他說，“這樣中國人就跳過了信用卡階段，直接進入了移動支付時代?！?/p>
As we ride around Beijing, Gu points out the advantages of mobile payments. No coins or crumpled bills that can be lost or stolen, electronic receipts, the ease of keeping track of spending—and of course, no bulky wallet.
在我們乘車逛北京的路上，顧宇指出了移動支付的好處，比如不用再攜帶硬幣或褶皺的紙幣，不用再擔心它們丟失或被偷，有電子收據，便于跟蹤消費記錄，當然，也不用再帶鼓鼓的錢包了。
After arriving at our destination in Beijing's trendy Sanlitun area, we eat lunch and split the check—also using our phones.
到達目的地——北京的時尚地標三里屯后，我們一起吃了午飯，AA制付賬，當然也是用手機支付的。
From tiny street vendors to large chains, a huge number of businesses in Beijing accept mobile payments, mostly through popular apps Alipay and WeChat.
在北京，小到街頭小販，大至連鎖商店，許許多多的商家都接受移動支付，主要通過支付寶和微信這兩個比較普及的應用。
Hundreds of millions of Chinese use Alipay and WeChat to make payments with their phones, and the market is growing fast.
數以億計的中國人都通過手機上的支付寶和微信支付，且市場增長迅猛。
Research firm eMarketer has estimated retail sales on mobile devices in China rose 85% to around $334 billion in 2015. That makes the Chinese market more than four times the size of the US one, the firm says.
據研究機構eMarketer估計，中國的移動端零售額在2015年增長了85%，約達到3340億美元，這一數字是美國市場的四倍多。
The next frontier for the industry is expansion beyond big Chinese cities.
移動支付的下一個發展目標將著眼于大城市之外。
Much of rural China still relies on cash. Despite China's slowing economy, the huge untapped population of hundreds of millions of people represents a big opportunity for mobile payment companies.
中國大部分農村地區仍然依賴于現金。盡管中國經濟增長放緩，但這數億人口的巨大市場尚未開發，將給移動支付公司提供一個重大機遇。
