What a red envelope actually is
The red envelope is the most efficient gift system I have ever encountered. No shopping, no wrapping, no guessing whether the colour is right: an amount of money, in a red packet, handed over at the right moment. In Mandarin it is a hongbao, in Cantonese a lai see, and it covers weddings, funerals, births, birthdays, graduations, housewarmings, hospital visits, the first working day of the year, and the entire Spring Festival. Once you understand the logic of it, which is mostly about numbers and relationships, you can navigate almost any occasion in China without embarrassment.
My first encounter was not a physical envelope at all. It was 10 p.m. on Spring Festival eve in a Shanghai apartment, and the family group chat on my host’s phone exploded with small red rectangles. Everyone was stabbing at the screen to grab a share of a packet someone had dropped into the group. The sums were a few yuan each, the noise was enormous, and the point was not the money. Digital red envelopes turned a custom into a game, and the game is now the main event of the holiday for tens of millions of people.
The occasions, in rough order of importance
Spring Festival is the big one, when married people give to unmarried people and to children, employers hand out opening-day packets, and almost everyone under about twenty-five collects. Weddings are the second, and the amounts are serious. Then come the birth of a baby, usually at the full-month mark, milestone birthdays for elders, graduations, housewarmings, and visits to someone in hospital. Funerals use a different envelope entirely, white or plain, and the money is called something else.
How much to give
The rule underneath all of it is that the amount should match the closeness of the relationship and the cost the host is carrying. Giving less than your seat cost at a wedding is noticed. Giving wildly more than everyone else creates an obligation the other person may not want, which is its own rudeness. Below are the bands I have seen hold up across several cities in October 2026, and they are conventions, not laws, so ask someone local before a big occasion.
| Occasion | Who you are | Typical amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Festival, to a child | Friend of the family | 100 to 600 yuan | New notes, even number |
| Spring Festival, to a parent or elder | Adult child | 500 to 2,000 yuan and up | Red or gold envelope |
| Spring Festival, to staff | Employer or neighbour | 100 to 800 yuan | Given on the first working day |
| Wedding | Colleague | 300 to 1,000 yuan | Higher in Beijing and Shanghai |
| Wedding | Close friend | 1,000 to 2,000 yuan | Cover the seat, then some |
| Birth of a baby | Friend or colleague | 200 to 1,000 yuan | Usually at the one-month mark |
| Graduation | Relative | 500 to 2,000 yuan | Regional, and more common in the south |
| Housewarming | Friend | 200 to 1,000 yuan | Often given alongside a gift |
| Hospital visit | Colleague | 200 to 1,000 yuan | Fruit and flowers alongside |
| Funeral | Anyone | Odd amounts, 101 to 501 yuan | White envelope, never red |
The numbers to choose and the ones to avoid
Chinese gift amounts are chosen for what they sound like. This is not a quaint superstition you can ignore; it is the part of the custom that hosts read most carefully.
Eight is the best number, because “eight” sounds close to the word for prospering. Six means everything goes smoothly. Nine suggests longevity. So 600, 800, 888, 1,666, and 1,888 are all excellent amounts, and 888 is the classic generous packet. Even numbers generally suit happy occasions, on the theory that good things come in pairs.
Four is the one to avoid, because it sounds close to the word for death, and this extends to 400, 1,400, and anything with a four in it. Fourteen and forty are worse, for related phonetic reasons. Odd numbers belong to funerals, where a sum like 101 or 501 yuan is correct, and the extra one yuan is deliberate.
There is a layer of internet-age numerology too: 520 means “I love you” in a rough pun, 1,314 suggests “for a whole lifetime”, and both turn up in romantic contexts rather than family ones. Use them with people who will understand the joke.
Paper envelopes and WeChat packets
Physical envelopes are sold in stationers, supermarkets, and every convenience store in the weeks before Spring Festival, printed with gold characters and auspicious animals. Buy good ones. The envelope itself is part of the gesture, and a creased one from the bottom of a bag reads badly. Use new notes from a bank counter if you can, and never seal the flap in a way that looks like you are hiding something, because most packets are simply folded, not glued.
On WeChat and Alipay, the red packet feature caps a single packet at 200 yuan, which is why a larger gift moves through the transfer function instead. In a group chat you can send a packet split among several people, and everyone grabs a random share, which is the game I watched that first Spring Festival. Foreigners can use this once WeChat Pay or Alipay is verified with a foreign card. It is worth doing before the holiday rather than during it.
One hard boundary: never give cash or an envelope to a government official, a police officer, or anyone acting in an official capacity. That is a bribe, it is a criminal offence, and no amount of custom makes it acceptable. The rest of this page is about private relationships between people who know each other.
Children, and when they stop collecting
Children receive packets at Spring Festival from married relatives and family friends, and the amounts have crept up steadily with rising incomes. The custom is that the packet belongs to the child, and there is a running joke in every Chinese family about parents who say they will “hold it for you” and then never hand it over. If you give to a child in front of the parents, expect the parent to accept it and to reciprocate with a packet for your own child if you have one.
The receiving side ends somewhere around the start of full-time work, and the switch is a real milestone: the year you begin giving rather than receiving is the year you are treated as an adult. Unmarried adults in their twenties are often still given packets by older relatives, which is a source of annual protest.
Gifts that are not money, and the reciprocity ledger
What to bring to someone’s home
Good tea is the safest gift in the country, and worth reading up on before you buy, because the price range is enormous and the fakes are convincing; our tea buying page covers grades and prices. A bottle of decent liquor, a box of mooncakes at the right season, quality fruit in even numbers, and health supplements are all standard. Bring two or four items rather than three, and carry them in a bag that does not advertise the price.
The taboo list is short and worth memorising. No clocks, because giving someone a clock sounds like attending their end. No umbrellas and no pears, both of which suggest separation. No sharp objects, which cut a relationship. No green hats, for reasons that translate to an insult about a man’s marriage. No white or black wrapping at a happy event, and no shoes in some southern households.
Receiving, refusing, and keeping the ledger
Accept a gift with both hands and a thank you, and do not open it in front of the giver unless invited to. A gift of real value is often politely refused once or twice before being accepted, and the refusal is ceremony rather than a real decline, so do not take someone’s first “no, you should not have” as a refusal and walk off with the bottle. Insist, gently, and accept their acceptance.
The part foreigners find hardest is the ledger. Chinese reciprocity, the idea that favours and gifts build an ongoing account between people, means your gift will be remembered and roughly matched at the next occasion. Giving too much creates a debt; giving too little reads as carelessness. The etiquette page sets this in the wider context of how obligation and face work in daily life. It also explains why tipping never took root here, a point our tipping page makes at length.
Quick facts
- Red envelopes are for happy occasions; funerals use a white envelope and an odd amount.
- Eight means prospering, six means smooth, and four is avoided because it sounds like death.
- Use new crisp notes and an envelope bought for the occasion.
- WeChat red packets are capped at 200 yuan; larger sums go through a transfer.
- Give with both hands, and do not open a gift in front of the giver.
- Never give money to officials, police, or anyone in an official capacity.
- Avoid clocks, umbrellas, pears, sharp objects, and green hats as gifts.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give red envelopes as a tourist?
Almost never. The custom belongs to relationships, and nobody expects a visitor at a hotel to hand out packets. If you are staying with a family over Spring Festival, giving the children a packet of 100 to 200 yuan each is a kind and very welcome gesture.
What if I give the wrong amount?
Nobody will say anything. The numbers matter, but a foreign guest who got the band slightly wrong is not going to offend anyone, and the gesture is what is read. Getting four wrong is the only real mistake, and even then people will assume you did not know.
Should the envelope have my name on it?
For a wedding, sign the guest book instead, and the desk will pair your envelope with your entry. For Spring Festival, no name is needed, because you hand it over in person. Some people write a short blessing on the back.
Can I send a digital envelope for a wedding?
It happens, especially if you cannot attend, but cash in a physical envelope at the door is the convention and it is what the family will expect. If you cannot be there, ask a friend going to the banquet to carry it, or send the money through a transfer with a clear message afterwards.
What do I do with money given to my child?
Accept it on their behalf with thanks, and reciprocate if the giver has children. The running family joke about parents confiscating the packets exists because it is true often enough to be funny.
Are there tax or legal limits on gifts in China?
For personal gifts between individuals, no. The line is drawn at public officials, where gifts and cash are a criminal matter. Corporate gifting has its own rules, and if you are travelling on business you should follow your employer’s policy rather than local custom.
What should I bring to a Chinese New Year dinner?
Fruit, tea, or a bottle of something, and a packet for any children in the house. Avoid anything on the taboo list, and do not bring food that the cook will feel obliged to serve. Seasonal gifts like mooncakes belong to their own festival, and the calendar of eating is laid out in our festival food page.
Do I give a tip in a red envelope?
No. Tipping is not customary in China and a guide or driver will be puzzled by it. If a private guide did something exceptional, a gift or a bonus at the end is generous and understood, but it is not the same thing as a tip.
Get the number right before the occasion
Tell us which city you will be in, whose home you are visiting, and what the occasion is, and we will help you choose an amount, an envelope, and a gift that fits the relationship rather than overshooting it. Weddings have their own arithmetic, covered in the Chinese wedding banquet guide.
Written by the ChinaTravelFood editorial team.
