China's state-owned bank card association, China Union-pay, has joined forces with Apple to bring the US giant's electronic payment system, Apple Pay, to the mainland.
Apple Pay will rout out to China UnionPay cardholders as early as 2016 , pending approvals, the firms saild.
Shoppers around the world are being encouraged to use smartphones instead of cards to pay for in-store purchases.
UnionPay's alliance with Apple is an extension of its plans to make the most of that growing market.
Executive vice president Chai Hongfeng said the firm would provide "secure,convenient mobile payment experiences for its hundreds of millions of cardholders, aligning multiple parties in the industry.