Chinese shoppers scan great leap over cash payments, by Rowan Callick.

Tuesday is being spruiked by China’s rampant online finance companies as the country’s first cash-free day.

Discounts, lucky draws and coupons, free bus rides and shares in an 18.888kg gold ingot are being offered to encourage Chinese people to leave their coins and notes — the latter all still featuring Mao Zedong — at home on August 8. …

Most Chinese families never had a fixed-line phone, and now never will. Similarly, most people have never had a credit card. Instead, they are leaping over cards, straight to mobile payments. …

Australia was placed ninth among cashless economies, in a Mastercard survey earlier this year, with people now carrying an average of just $55 in their wallets because of the rapid adoption of pay-wave.

China — the country that ­invented paper money — was 15th in that survey, but has probably ­already overtaken Australia, such is the pace of change, as well as the US. …

Almost half of Chinese people, according to another survey, now carry less than $20 when they leave home daily. Some stores have this year stopped accepting cash, causing the central bank to step in to insist that retailers ­continue to do so.

Won’t it be good when banks and government hold and monitor all our money all the time?