Popular messaging service WeChat is hogging the limelight this Chinese New Year - by giving the traditions typical of this festive period a facelift.

这个农历新年，大众短信服务平台“微信”抢尽了风头——使节日的传统习俗焕然一新。

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By contrast, payment with Alipay or WeChat is much more streamlined and requires only the scan of a QR code from a retailer's point-of-service terminal or a smartphone.

相比之下，用支付宝或微信进行支付要简单得多，只需要从零售商服务点终端或智能手机扫描一下二维码即可。

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Nanning, capital city of Guangxi, is testing an electronic ID card system based on Tencent's WeChat mobile messaging service, reported China Daily on Nov 11.

据《中国日报》11月11日报道，广西省会南宁正在试运行一个基于腾讯微信信息传递业务的电子身份证系统。

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He notes that WeChat is surpassing QQ, its wildly popular instant messaging service in China, in its adoption rate internationally partly because the name of the service was changed from Weixin or micro message to the easily pronounceable WeChat.

FORBES: Tencent's WeChat Speeding Past QQ In Uptake

"We thought maybe it would take six months, " he said, but in fact WeChat was out within two months and it has proved far more popular than Xiaomi's service.

WSJ: China's Tencent Outperforms Its Western Peers

According to Tencent, whose services include instant messaging service QQ, microblogging site Tencent Weibo - which is similar to Twitter - and online games, WeChat has close to 300 million users.

BBC: Tencent