Red envelope

In Chinese and other Asian societies, a red envelope, red packet, lai see or hongbao is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions such as weddings, graduation or the birth of a baby. Outside of China, similar customs exist across parts of South East Asia and many other countries with a sizable ethnic Chinese population.

Usage

Red envelopes are gifts presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or holidays such as Chinese New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits. The act of requesting red packets is normally called tao hongbao (Chinese: 討紅包; pinyin: tǎo hóngbāo) or yao lishi (Chinese: 要利是; pinyin: yào lì shì), and in the south of China, lai see (Chinese: 逗利是; pinyin: dòu lì shì; Cantonese Yale: dau6 lei6 si6). Red envelopes are usually given out by married couples to single people, regardless of age, or by older to younger ones during holidays and festivals.

The amount of money contained in the envelope usually ends with an even digit, in accordance with Chinese beliefs; odd-numbered money gifts are traditionally associated with funerals. Still in some regions of China and in its diaspora community, odd-numbers are favored for weddings because they are difficult to divide. There is also a widespread tradition that money should not be given in fours, or the number four should not appear in the amount, such as in 40, 400 and 444, as the pronunciation of the word four is homophonous to the word death. (See Numbers in Chinese culture.)