Spring Festival-Red Envelops

Red Envelops

Another interesting tradition during the Spring Festival is that of giving and receiving Red Envelops. Money is put inside red envelops as a gift during the festival. Older generations typically give red envelopes to the younger generations in their families. I still remember when I used to receive red envelops from my grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts and relatives. After New Years Eve, people would start to greet each other. The children would greet the older generations with wishes of happy New Year and good health while the older generations would give red envelops with money inside to the kids as a wish for auspicion and luck. The money inside of the red envelops is supposed to be used for buying gifts for the children.

The money is placed within red envelops because the color symbolizes luck and happiness. It is considered very bad etiquette to open the envelops in front of the people who gave them to you. The money in the red envelops is called “Ya Sui Qian”. Ya means “press”, Sui was a name of a ghost, and Qian means “money”. Therefore it means money to press on the ghost. There are a few different versions of how this tradition of giving red envelops formed. People believe that there was a ghost call “Nian” that always attacked kids during the Spring Festival. People believed the red color could protect the children and ward off the ghost. This tradition became popular among people and was first recorded during the Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD).

10 Yuan Note

When I was young I remember that the money in my red envelops was very small, sometimes just one or two Yuan. in my parents generations the money in the envelopes was smaller, sometimes two, five, or ten cents each year. I remember that the amount of money would increase each year. I was so excited to receive a 10 Yuan note when I was around 10 years old because the 10 Yuan note is considered a big denomination. People called it “the Great Union”. Gradually as I got older I received 50 Yuan or 100 Yuan in my envelopes. It has become very common these days to give or receive a 100 Yuan note. Many people even give 500 or 1000 Yuan. I think this is evidence that shows the drastic economy progress that China has achieved over 30 years of reforms but also shows the depreciation of our currency. Often times people will compare the amount they receive in their red envelops with one another which goes against the pure intentions of this tradition.