The technology has been implemented at the Futian station in Shenzhen, where commuters can scan their faces at the entrance gate to board the train.
The cost of the train ticket is then deducted from their linked accounts, reducing the amount of time taken to board users onto public transport.
"To use facial ticketing in the future, passengers will also need preregistration of their facial information and link their payment methods to their accounts," the station told the South China Morning Post.
Shenzhen Metro said the facial recognition service was still in a trial mode and there is no information on when the technology will roll out to the rest of the country.
Smartphone payments are already prolific across China, with most of the country's Internet users relying on mobile wallet payments instead of cash.