The launch enables users to discover and review Australian restaurants, cafés, attractions and lifestyle businesses in Chinese through the Dianping app, while Australian merchants can now register on the platform.
According to the announcement on the Chinese social media platform, Dianping features user-generated reviews, curated recommendation lists and rankings, including "Must Eat", "Popular" and "Highly Rated" lists. The platform covers restaurants, cafés, beauty services, KTV, spas and other local lifestyle businesses, helping Chinese-speaking users discover places to eat, shop and explore across Australia.
Launch Story understands that existing Dianping users can continue using the same app by switching their location to Australian cities. Users will retain their existing membership level and continue earning points and upgrading their status through eligible spending in Australia. The company also encouraged users to share reviews of Australian businesses.
Responding to questions on RedNote, the official account confirmed that Dianping's first round of promotional coupons will be introduced soon after launch, bringing one of the platform's most popular features in China to the Australian market.
Founded in Shanghai in 2003, Dianping merged with Meituan in 2015 and has grown into one of China's largest local lifestyle platforms. The app combines user reviews, curated rankings, restaurant reservations, promotional offers and merchant services in a single ecosystem.
For Australian users, Dianping combines functions that are spread across several platforms. It offers local business discovery similar to Google Maps, travel and restaurant reviews comparable to Tripadvisor, and dining offers resembling some of the features available through TheFork. Unlike any single Australian platform, however, Dianping brings these services together in a Chinese-language experience tailored to Chinese-speaking users.
The launch comes as Australia continues rebuilding its Chinese visitor market. According to Tourism Australia, more than one million visitors arrived from China in the year ending December 2025, recovering from the pandemic but remaining below 2019 levels. China nevertheless remains Australia's largest inbound market by visitor spending.
For Australian businesses, Dianping provides another digital channel to reach Chinese-speaking residents, international students and visitors. For users, it offers a familiar platform to discover local businesses, share reviews and access trusted recommendations while travelling or living in Australia.