I had both WeChat and AliPay. I found that most vendord accepted both equally. Very rarely did a vendor only accept WeChat.

However, every person has both AliPay and WeChat and they use both.

As I wrote in the blog post, I tried to get Alipay to work. So far as I can tell, they truly don't let foreigners (without Chinese bank accounts) use their payment system.

I managed to use Alipay but yes, with a Chinese bank account. Getting the bank account wasn't that difficult though. Alipay was awesome though. Really hate cash.

Yes, you need a Chinese bank account for AliPay.

You could give RMB's to a friend and have them transfer you money to AliPay from their AliPay account. This involves your friend needing to go to their bank and deposit your RMB's into their account though.