Hong bao

In the old days gifts of money were given to children by the older generation and were placed in red envelopes called hong bao. This practice has been discouraged by the Communists because it perpetuates "feudal-capitalist consciousness," the worship of wealth and money.

New Year's Eve is the traditional date for reunion dinners, but relatives and old friends enjoy getting together for feasting and entertainment throughout the entire holiday season. Gift giving is another time-honored custom still widely practiced among Singapore's Chinese. Hong bao, or "lucky money," is by far the favored item, bestowed in bright red envelopes by married family members upon the young and single.

After extensive negotiations, and at the arrival of the groom at the bride's house, the groom is usually admitted only after he offers a red envelope (hong bao) containing money in multiples of 99 or 999. Those numbers symbolize a long, happy marriage.

Children in particular love the joyous festivals. With them come treats like traditional New Year goodies (and hongbaos) during the Lunar New Year, a wide variety of rice dumplings to savour during the Dragon Boat Festival, and pretty lanterns to carry in dark places during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

While most of the country has spent the weekend counting hongbaos and mahjong tiles, those guys have been out there salvaging hongbaos and half of Thomson Road.

Firecrackers are let off to usher in the New Year and to drive off bad luck and evil spirits. The next morning is spent visiting relatives and friends and exchanging greetings and good wishes for the year ahead. The Chinese also exchange hongbao 紅包 hóngbāo or little red envelopes stuffed with money for good luck.

When Chinese return home for the Spring Festival […] they will probably also prepare hongbao for the family. Traditionally these are gifts of money packed in red envelopes given and received with ceremonial reverence. But now hongbao are available in the form of social applications. In 2015, WeChat, China's most popular messaging application, developed by Tencent, collaborated with China Central TV (CCTV) in the most watched lunar new year's gala ever, in which at certain times the host asked the audience to shake their mobile phones to receive hongbao. Over 1 billion hongbao were sent and received.

The sum of money in the hongbao is not fixed and it is based on the relationship between the giver and recipient, i.e. the closer the relationship, the greater the sum of money given. The hongbao culture is also commonly found in other Chinese societies; analogous practices include lishi in Hong Kong and ang pow in Singapore.