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Chinese New Year
Happy Chinese New Year!
The Chinese New Year - the Year of the Rat - starts on 9
February 2008. At the heart of all the celebrations, fireworks,
flowers and food is the desire to drive away evil spirits, sweep
out the old and attract good luck. There are also many traditional
customs involving money. These include settling debts by the close
of the old year, giving a New Year bonus to employees, and giving
gifts of little red money envelopes.
These little red envelopes (hongbao in Mandarin,
laisee in Cantonese and angpow in Hokkien) are
usually given by adults to children, and by married people to their
unmarried friends. Many people like to give crisp new notes
straight from the bank. This has encouraged banks and other
businesses to produce money envelopes bearing their logo, as part
of their marketing strategy and service to customers.
The envelopes here range from the home-made to the very
commercial. Some contained just a few coins, others contained
several notes.