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，如果你出门不带钱包，一整天都会过得非常艰难。你没办法支付食物、交通、以及其它任何生活必需品的费用。

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.

但是在中国的大都市，只要你带上智能手机，即使没有满口袋的现金和信用卡，你也完全可以活下来。

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.

我在美国生活的时候，一般都不用现金结账，但我总是带着信用卡或借记卡。我付房租的时候开支票，而且大多数账单都在网上支付。

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.

中国快速发展的移动商业预计将远超美国，所以我离开美国来到中国首都北京，来看看一部手机能让我走多远。

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.

说实话，我觉得不带钱包在北京逛一天有点不太靠谱，但当我发现这样既简单又方便时，还有些惊喜。

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.

我在一家煎饼（一种美味的薄煎饼，中国最受欢迎的街头早餐之一）小铺买了早餐，扫了窗户上的二维码付款，一共花了六元（大约93美分），我要做的只是输入密码，整个过程只用了几秒，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.

在附近一家咖啡馆，咖啡师扫了CNN助理沈璐手机上的二维码。

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.

在我们品尝咖啡期间，沈璐用手机付了她房子的水费。只几秒钟的时间，她就可以在几个相互关联的账户间转移资金。她经常用同样简单的方法付其它的账单，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，我也可以用手机支付电影票、外卖和网购的商品。

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.

我用手机叫了辆出租车，去会见一个新型支付应用迈生活的联合创始人顾宇。用手机应用支付拼车费用可以给我们省下一笔钱，因为我们可以预定多个出租车站点，最后把费用都分摊掉。

Gu says many urban Chinese don't even bother with credit cards because they prefer to pay by phone.

顾宇说，在中国，很多城里人都不爱用信用卡，因为他们更喜欢用手机支付。

"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."

“我把这种现象叫做后发优势。中国并没有一个真正利润丰厚的信用卡体系，”他说，“这样中国人就跳过了信用卡阶段，直接进入了移动支付时代。”

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.

在我们乘车逛北京的路上，顾宇指出了移动支付的好处，比如不用再携带硬币或褶皱的纸币，不用再担心它们丢失或被偷，有电子收据，便于跟踪消费记录，当然，也不用再带鼓鼓的钱包了。

After arriving at our destination in Beijing's trendy Sanlitun area, we eat lunch and split the check—also using our phones.

到达目的地——北京的时尚地标三里屯后，我们一起吃了午饭，AA制付账，当然也是用手机支付的。

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，小到街头小贩，大至连锁商店，许许多多的商家都接受移动支付，主要通过支付宝和微信这两个比较普及的应用。

Hundreds of millions of Chinese use Alipay and WeChat to make payments with their phones, and the market is growing fast.

数以亿计的中国人都通过手机上的支付宝和微信支付，且市场增长迅猛。

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.

据研究机构eMarketer估计，中国的移动端零售额在2015年增长了85%，约达到3340亿美元，这一数字是美国市场的四倍多。

The next frontier for the industry is expansion beyond big Chinese cities.

移动支付的下一个发展目标将着眼于大城市之外。

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.

中国大部分农村地区仍然依赖于现金。尽管中国经济增长放缓，但这数亿人口的巨大市场尚未开发，将给移动支付公司提供一个重大机遇。