Opinion / How going cashless in China is killing the Lunar New Year tradition of giving lai see
With mobile transactions and WeChat’s hong bao becoming popular, where does that leave the lovely Lunar New Year practice of gifting little packets of cash?
When I was growing up, Lunar New Year was like a second Christmas. You had a huge family gathering over a grand feast the night before, and the following morning, instead of presents, I used to get something even better – lai see – or red packets, (hong bao in China) which is gift money given to the young and unmarried by those are married or older.
After days of playing with cousins and my parents allowing me to eat loads of sweets from the chuen hup or candy box, I used to like arranging all my red envelopes into a pile and count the money I had accumulated. I must have been a greedy little girl as I thought only of myself and decided which toys I wanted to buy and how much I would set aside for later use – perhaps toys that would be released later in the year.
All that is about to become a relic of a bygone era.
A cashless society
“My colleagues in Shenzhen tell me they do not even own a wallet any more,” says Ben Sin, a journalist who covers tech matters in China. “Even buying a 4 yuan street snack off a cart in an alley, the grandma selling it will have a QR code for payments.”