you can link a US issued debit card as a "credit card" under wechat and you can then accept money from others (and also send money from your stored balance)
Correct. I can confirm. This is what I do as well.
not true. unless it was like that before. I came back from a trip a few weeks ago and that's how I got money in my wechat account. And I don't have a bank account linked.
edit: to zht's comment, I did have a US cc added.
To clarify, this has recently changed. In 2017 you could not accept money in your WeChat account without a Chinese card or bank account. As of 2018, adding a foreign credit card enables the "money" feature" and allows you to receive funds.