Adults under strain as hongbao grow fatter

    Updated: 2012-01-30 08:08

    By Shi Yingying (China Daily)

      Comments() Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按鈕 0

    Symbolic New Year's gift becoming financial burden with passing time

    SHANGHAI - For Chinese children, the arrival of Spring Festival brings with it cash-filled red envelopes, but the practice is putting strain on the wallets of adults.

    "My annual bonus stayed in my pocket for less than a week before it went out in the form of red envelopes," said Huang Yijing, a 30-year-old nurse from Shanghai, who forked out at least 1,000 yuan ($160) each to her nephews and nieces and gave 500 yuan or more to her friends' children.

    Each Chinese New Year, Huang said she spends more than 5,000 yuan, equivalent to her monthly salary, on (hongbao), the red envelopes filled with money that are traditionally given out on special occasions in China.

    She said the practice has always been a source of stress.

    "Unlike the traditions tied with the Western festival of Christmas, which allows you to choose a relatively more expensive gift if it's a good year and a cheaper one if it's a bad year, the unwritten rule attached to Chinese hongbao is that the amount of lucky money can either remain unchanged or go up, but definitely won't go down," she said.

    A recent survey by Jilin-based newspaper City Evening News found more than 20 percent of 417 interviewees agreed that 1,000 yuan was the bottom line for the red envelope.

    Huang said she has developed a system for the amount of money she gives to a child. The number varies according to the recipient's financial status and also depends on how well she knows the child's parents

    "On top of that, I'm single with no children and that means I give out lots of red envelopes with nothing in return," she added.

    Liu Kuili, honorary president of the China Folklore Society, said the original meaning of the envelope ritual was a New Year blessing passed from the older generation to the young. "Yasuiqian (new year gift money) is this small amount of money that can suppress devils and maintain children in peace and safety for the whole next year," he said.

    "However, people have ignored its symbolic meaning nowadays and make the envelope bigger and bigger," said Liu, adding that Singapore has a similar tradition but usually sets the maximum to around 10 Singapore dollars ($8).

    Wang Shuqin, a teacher with Kunming's Hongqi Primary School in Yunnan province, said she feels the tradition of giving hongbao has become an inescapable financial liability rather than a symbolic gesture.

    "We always do this survey on how much hongbao money we each collected during Spring Festival in my class after the winter vacation," Wang said. "For example, last year about 80 percent of my class of 66 (students in the fifth grade) said they received between 3,000 to 5,000 yuan and more than 10 percent of them got from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan."

    Wang said 5 percent of her class earned more 10,000 yuan. "Parents and relatives, especially those caring grandpas and grandmas, are the biggest donors, and some of them even gave big ones with 5,000 yuan or 10,000 yuan at once," said Wang.

    And the complications caused by the annual practice do not end with the question of how much to give. There are also tensions about who holds on to the money. Because tradition dictates that one set of parents must give another's child an amount equal to what was given, parents often feel they have a say in how the annual gift is spent.

    Huang Zuo, a bank clerk from Wenzhou, just "confiscated" his 15-year-old son's 9,000-yuan take during the New Year. "It's all about interpersonal relations. It's social money in China," he said.

    Su Junhua, a 36-year-old office worker from Shanghai, came up with a compromise for her 6-year-old daughter. "I opened a bank account to collect all the money for my daughter since she was born - hongbao from friends and relatives for her birthday and every New Year - it's like her trust fund," said the mother. "Now, she has around 10,000 yuan, and it's all hers when she turns 18."

    Su added that she recorded details of each transaction "so that I know who gave me how much and it's easier to return".

    Yu Ran contributed to this story.

    亚洲av日韩av无码黑人| 无码任你躁久久久久久久| 亚洲国产成人精品无码久久久久久综合| 亚洲日本va午夜中文字幕久久| 无码AⅤ精品一区二区三区| 亚洲一区二区三区AV无码| 暖暖日本中文视频| 亚洲高清无码在线观看| 国产V亚洲V天堂无码久久久| 亚洲色偷拍另类无码专区| 欧美日韩中文字幕在线看| 中文字幕久精品免费视频| 国产高清无码二区| 久久男人Av资源网站无码软件| 人妻少妇AV无码一区二区| 久久亚洲2019中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码喷水| 久久久精品无码专区不卡 | 乱人伦中文无码视频在线观看| 国产成人无码18禁午夜福利p| 亚洲人成无码网站| 成人无码免费一区二区三区| 中文字幕手机在线观看| 精品亚洲欧美中文字幕在线看| 久久久久久综合一区中文字幕| 亚洲乱码中文字幕手机在线| 中文一国产一无码一日韩| 天堂亚洲国产中文在线| 99在线精品国自产拍中文字幕| 亚洲成在人线在线播放无码| 亚洲成?Ⅴ人在线观看无码| 一区二区三区无码高清| 欧美 亚洲 日韩 中文2019| 制服丝袜中文字幕在线| 日韩在线中文字幕| 亚洲日韩中文在线精品第一| 少妇无码AV无码一区| 国产成人亚洲综合无码| 无码成A毛片免费| 99国产精品无码| 亚洲男人在线无码视频|