Old and New Traditions of the Little Red Packets

Hongbao Rush Part 1

Pop On Team
Pop On

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Chinese New Year is at our doorstep! It is the biggest festival in China and in many east Asian countries. Just like during Christmas in the West, families unite and there are excitement and stress in the air. It is a struggle to find a taxi in Shanghai (this literally never happens), restaurants are short of cooks, all bus and train stations are super crowded as 800 million Chinese return from big cities to their hometowns. Most people can’t wait to have these 7 days off from work (usually very rare in this country) and exchange hongbaos with friends and family.

Companies across China hold their annual parties with feasts, drinks and with funny and sometimes outlandish games. When CEOs start singing heartbroken emotional songs in karaoke clubs, you know that during these days things are different. In the first part of our Hongbao Rush special series, we dive into the old and new traditions of the little red packets filled with money.

What is a hongbao (红包) ?

Hongbaos, as the Chinese name indicates (‘红’hóng means red, ‘包’ bāo means packet, all kind of bag), are handy-sized red paper envelopes stuffed with money. Traditionally given during Chinese New Year and during special occasions such as weddings, graduations, the birth of a baby as an expression of wishing good luck and share blessings.

History of hongbao (红包)

In ancient China, there was an evil fairy called Sui who was known to be coming during Chinese New Year’s Eve to touch the head of sleeping children three times. After the evil fairy left, the children became sick. Since then parents stayed up late during Chinese New Year’s Eve to protect their kids from the evil fairy.

One Chinese family, wrapped the copper coins in red paper to keep their son entertained and pray for his protection. Eight good fairies heard their prayers and they turned themselves into golden coins that parents placed on the son’s pillow. After everybody fell asleep, the evil fairy came again and when he tried to touch kid’s forehead, golden light burst out from the red paper and scared the fairy away. Villagers heard this story and started to wrap coins in red paper. Since then Hongbaos, little red envelopes are representing protection, blessings and good luck.

The Darker side of Red Envelopes

Even though most people only experience bright side of giving and receiving red envelopes, giving hongbao also become the metaphor for bribery. In the last few years, the Chinese media was loud from crackdowns on corrupt officials, but giving hongbaos’s are still deeply woven into the fabric of society and it often happens with a good intent.

Modern “Hongbaos”

Although classic ancient red envelopes are still widely used by older people, the smartphone generation has replaced classics with a new digital version.

Users of popular Chinese mobile platforms, such as WeChat, Alipay, Weibo or Pop On share digital red packets with each other. It is very easy, just choose an option Red Packet in the conversation you have with a person, insert the amount of money or Popcoin and a small wish and there you go! Hóngbāo sent!

When you receive a red packet within your chat, tap to open it and you will see how much money you got. Sending these digital red envelopes has become a great fun and young people can sit hours and hours playing this game of sending and opening the red packets. If you have a Chinese friend you might know what we are talking about! (anyway, we must admit, it is fun also for foreigners)

Hongbao Rush

As Chinese New Year is a celebration of a successful past year and blessing the coming one, we have decided to say thanks to our present community and inspire others to learn a foreign language by creating a Hongbao Rush Campaign.

In this campaign, we give away Pop Coins in a form of a red envelope to our current users. They can use it or send it to their friends, encourage them to try to learn a new language by talking to native speakers.

And this nice craziness will start next week…!

Pop On is a global language service and cultural exchange app which connects you with native language partners around the world within seconds. Whether you are at a beginner or advanced level, you can start your language journey with Pop On and find the right Chat Pal/Tutor for you. Pop On supports Mandarin Chinese and English and will incorporate a range of languages such as Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian etc.

Pop On app is now available on Google Play Store and on the Apple Store. Learn more about us at gopopon.com.

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