Chinese New Year: part one
>> Friday, 23 January 2009 –
Chinese New Year,
HK information
It was a normal Thursday night in the Packer Pies household. After a hearty meal of broccoli, pea and pesto soup accompanied by some crusty three-grain bread, P and P were enjoying an episode of The West Wing. But lo, something was out of place. Pies had a stack of crisp, new, twenty-dollar notes to his left and was busy putting one of each such note into some red card envelopes and into some gold card envelopes. Now I know what you're thinking... all this chat about a new job at UBS was just a ruse. Pies has actually been drawn into the HK underworld and this is his novel way of laundering his new 'earnings'...
Well let me put your mind at rest. On occasions such as weddings, or in this case, the Chinese New Year, it is traditional to give lai see (紅包), meaning red packet/red envelope in Cantonese. Once they contain your monetary amount of choice, avoiding the number four, e.g. $40, $400, as in Cantonese, the word for four sounds like the word for death, and making sure your total is an even number not odd, as odd numbers are associated with funerals, you give them to people who are considered 'junior' to, or 'smaller' than you. For example, the concierge at an apartment building; a waiter at an oft-visited restaurant; a subordinate in your team; parents to children; and hilariously, married couples to single people. ("Hey! Don't feel upset that you're spending Chinese New Year all on your own, while we'll be all cosy in our smug-marriedness - here's some cash! Enjoy!") To prove you were thinking of your recipient beforehand, you're supposed to queue up at the bank to get some crispy new notes, otherwise it looks like an afterthought if you give crusty old ones (apparently).
Crafty UBS made it easy for their employees to appear 'thoughtful' and pander to their lazy streaks, by offering a 'you pay us with a cheque, we'll get hold of a pile of new notes for you' service. Right up Pies's street.
I think the custom has now expanded to include gold envelopes as, along with red, it is a colour of good luck and prosperity, and both bestower and recipient benefit from the presenting of said envelopes in the year to come. Oddly, it's not known exactly where the red envelope-giving comes from. Before the Republic of China was formed in 1911, in the Qing Dynasty years, old folks would thread coins together with red string, believing it protected them from sickness and death by warding off evil spirits. With the coming of the republic, printing presses were more abundant and so red envelopes replaced the coins on string.
Well let me put your mind at rest. On occasions such as weddings, or in this case, the Chinese New Year, it is traditional to give lai see (紅包), meaning red packet/red envelope in Cantonese. Once they contain your monetary amount of choice, avoiding the number four, e.g. $40, $400, as in Cantonese, the word for four sounds like the word for death, and making sure your total is an even number not odd, as odd numbers are associated with funerals, you give them to people who are considered 'junior' to, or 'smaller' than you. For example, the concierge at an apartment building; a waiter at an oft-visited restaurant; a subordinate in your team; parents to children; and hilariously, married couples to single people. ("Hey! Don't feel upset that you're spending Chinese New Year all on your own, while we'll be all cosy in our smug-marriedness - here's some cash! Enjoy!") To prove you were thinking of your recipient beforehand, you're supposed to queue up at the bank to get some crispy new notes, otherwise it looks like an afterthought if you give crusty old ones (apparently).
Crafty UBS made it easy for their employees to appear 'thoughtful' and pander to their lazy streaks, by offering a 'you pay us with a cheque, we'll get hold of a pile of new notes for you' service. Right up Pies's street.
I think the custom has now expanded to include gold envelopes as, along with red, it is a colour of good luck and prosperity, and both bestower and recipient benefit from the presenting of said envelopes in the year to come. Oddly, it's not known exactly where the red envelope-giving comes from. Before the Republic of China was formed in 1911, in the Qing Dynasty years, old folks would thread coins together with red string, believing it protected them from sickness and death by warding off evil spirits. With the coming of the republic, printing presses were more abundant and so red envelopes replaced the coins on string.
So there you have part one of my everything you need to know about the Chinese New Year guide. It'll cost you!
Fascinating! I wonder how many people cunningly break up with partners they weren't that fussed about, just before New Year? "Look I'm single! It's so sad. Please donate!".