Mobile payment services are seeing explosive growth in China, where apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay let people do everything from paying bills to booking a taxi

Payment app QR codes are popping up across China Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

CASH is rapidly becoming a thing of the past in China. Consumers have abandoned banknotes in favour of paying with their phones in unprecedented numbers – and this vision of a cashless economy could well be the future throughout the world.

The country isn’t alone in rejecting coins and notes – Sweden leads the world as the most cashless nation as a percentage of GDP – but its pace of change is accelerating. Since 2013, China has experienced the highest growth in the number of cashless transactions out of the top …