Chinese tradition holds that on red-letter days people should push
the envelope - and make sure these paper packets are stuffed with
stacks of cash.
Giving hongbao - literally translated as "red bags" - is a must
for important social and family events in China.
During wedding ceremonies and receptions, guests should offer
the packets to brides and grooms. In this case, the cash is
intended to cover the expense of entertaining the guests, because
it's not uncommon for Chinese marital celebrations to host
hundreds.
These envelopes would most often be imprinted with the Chinese
character for "double happiness".
And during the Lunar New Year, elderly people should proffer the
packets to children. In South China, married people should give
them to single adults in their extended family. These envelopes are
usually decorated with auspicious images or Chinese characters, the
most common of which for this time of year is fu (lucky).
A red packet, or hongbao, is the most common gift for children
during the Spring Festival. Lu Jianshe
According to tradition, children should kneel before their
grandparents and kowtow three times before the elderly would bestow
red envelopes upon them. Sometimes, however, the kiddies don't get
to keep the cash, and their parents repackage it to pass it along
to other children. The idea is that the exchanges should end up
roughly even by the time the festival celebrations winds down.
For the last few years, Chinese media have reported a growing
resistance to the tradition, as more prosperous family members feel
greater pressure to give larger amounts, which sometimes add up to
more than a month's salary. Usually, the envelopes contain between
100 and 200 yuan ($14-28), but they could contain as much as 1,000
yuan.
For both weddings and Lunar New Year celebrations, the first
digit of the total sum per envelope given should be an even number.
However, giving an amount that adds up to the number four - the
word for which in Chinese rhymes with the word for "death" - is,
socially speaking, a mortal mistake.
Hongbao are also given at funerals. This is the only time when
the sum in an envelope given to surviving family members of the
deceased should begin with an odd number.
Many companies in China today give employees holiday bonuses in
the form of hongbao before Spring Festival begins.
Historians are uncertain of the origins of the hongbao-giving
tradition.
However, most agree that during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),
elderly people would bind stacks of coins with red yarn. These were
known as yasuiqian - literally translated as "pressed money" - and
were believed to extend longevity by safeguarding the older
generation from illness and death.
When printing presses became commonplace after the founding of
the Republic of China in 1911, the custom changed so that the
strands of string were substituted for envelopes, and coins were
replaced with banknotes.
(China Daily by Erik Nilsson February 4, 2008)
