Red envelope
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A red envelope or red packet (Traditional Chinese: 紅包; Simplified Chinese: 红包; pinyin: hóng bāo) is a monetary gift which is given in Chinese society. The name comes from the red envelope in which the money is contained. It is called lai si (also transcribed lai see) (利是, 利市 or 利事) in Cantonese, Ang Pao in Min Nan/Taiwanese and Pung Pao in Hakka.
Red envelopes are often presented on social and family occasions such as a wedding reception or a holiday such as Chinese New Year (in which context it is also known as yāsuì qián, Traditional Chinese: 壓歲錢). They are also the standard form in which cash for political bribes is given. The red color of the packet symbolizes good luck and the amount of money in the packet is often some lucky number (such as a number containing many eights, which sounds similar to the Chinese term for "prosperity").
During Chinese New Year, a hóng bāo is typically given by the grown-ups and seniors (usually the married) to the visiting children and juniors. It is bestowed on the days of New Year, where the recipient says something auspicious on taking the red envelope.
In Chinese society, the monetary value of the gift is very important and gifts of red envelopes are socially acceptable precisely because they allow the receiver to accurately measure the strength of a social relationship.
Similar customs also exist in other countries in Asia. In Vietnam, red envelopes are called lì xì, similar to the Cantonese pronunciation, laisee. In Japan, a monetary gift, called otoshidama, is given to children by their relatives during the New Year period. A white envelope, however, is used instead in Japan and Korea, with the name of the receiver written on its obverse. In Malaysia, ethnic Malays give monetary gifts in green packets inscribed with Islamic motifs during Eid ul-Fitr. In Thailand, Chinese-Thai have red envelope called as Ang Pow or Tae Ea. In Myanmar (Burma), Burmese Chinese use red envelopes known as "an-pao" (Burmese: အန္ပောက္္).
