Red envelopes

Red envelope
Assorted examples of contemporary red envelopes
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	紅包
Simplified Chinese	红包
Literal meaning	red package
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin hóngbāo Hakka Romanization Fung Bao Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization hùhng bāauh Jyutping hung4 baau1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ âng-pau
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	利是 or 利事
Literal meaning	good for business
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin lìshì Hakka Romanization li si Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization làih sih Jyutping lai6 si6
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	lì xì phong bao mừng tuổi
Korean name
Hangul	세뱃돈
Hanja	歲拜돈
Transcriptions Revised Romanization sae bae don
Japanese name
Kanji	お年玉袋 祝儀袋
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn otoshidama-bukuro shūgi-bukuro

In Chinese and other East Asian societies, a red envelope, red packet, lai see (Cantonese), âng-pau (Hokkien) or hóngbāo (Mandarin) 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 Southeast Asia and many other countries with a sizable ethnic Chinese population. In 2014, the Chinese mobile app WeChat popularized the distribution of red envelopes via mobile payments over the Internet.

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 a symbol 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 lai6 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. The exception being the number 9 as it pronunciation of nine is homophonus to the word long and is the largest digit. 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.