Alibaba’s third-party online payment service platform, Alipay, released an emergency statement on its Weibo account on Thursday, saying that everyone, including its staff, can pay how they want and their choice should be respected.

星期四，阿里巴巴旗下第三方支付平台支付宝在其微博上做出紧急回应，表示每个人在支付方式上的选择都是自由的，也都是应该被尊重的，自己的员工也不例外。

The announcement came after Alibaba’s Chairman Jack Ma was seen paying for his bill with a bank card instead of Alipay at a bar in southwest China’s Chongqing, Jan. 10.

此前，阿里巴巴董事长马云10日晚上在重庆的某个酒吧消费后并未选择支付宝支付，而是刷了银行卡。

“Doesn’t Alipay want to help build a cashless society?” Weibo users joked. However, Alipay said it has never wanted to put an end to cash, adding that new forms of payment don’t make older ones obsolete.

一微博网友开玩笑说，“支付宝不是要打造一个无现金社会吗？”然而，支付宝官方微博回应道，它从来没说过消灭现金，并补充说新支付方式的普及并不等于要让旧的消灭。

Jack Ma reportedly showed up at a little-known bar Wednesday evening. However, he was soon recognized and left after about an hour.

据报道，马云上周三晚现身重庆一家鲜为人知的酒吧。不过他还是很快被认出来了并在约一小时后离开。