You cannot link foreign cards to Alipay account. Best way is to ask Chinese colleagues to transfer you Yuan and you pay them via cash. You can then use the wallet amount in shops.

Yes I tried recently and it seemed impossible without a bank account. You can link a foreign card but not actually use it for normal payments. You may be able to use it only on tabao or something. WeChat pay is not usable at all without a Chinese bank card.

At least as if last Sep, no. I actually called customer service.

Wechat pay is an option though; you just need to find a Chinese national that will send your account money.

We hat payments used to require a Chinese bank account, so we're essentially inaccessible to foreigners. This is secondhand knowledge, I've never used it, but I have heard this has changed. Perhaps since the account was created while this restriction was in place, the option was never enabled?

The wallet option only exists if you have a Chinese Wechat account (using a Chinese phone number).