Hong Kong holds on to money-giving tradition
By Kari Lipschutz
Published: International Herald Tribune, January 26, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/26/asia/packet.1-413354.php
HONG KONG: Edith and Kenneth Chung look around their upscale restaurant in Hong Kong and see empty chairs.
These are lean times, but the Chungs will not cut back on the Lunar New Year tradition of giving red and gold envelopes containing small amounts of money, called “lai see” in Cantonese or “hong bao” in Mandarin, to family and friends who are less fortunate.
“People will not compromise lai see,” Edith Chung said. “It is good luck.”
With some trepidation, as bankers lose their jobs and manufacturers close factories, Hong Kongers are continuing the practice as they always have, considering the luck they hope to gain from giving to outweigh the financial cost.
This is a practice rooted in the ages. Before envelopes there were other tokens believed to be auspicious gifts. The exact origins of the red packets are not clear, but over time they have come to be an iconic symbol of luck and prosperity.
The Lunar New Year is a time to celebrate with family and the tradition of giving is an integral part of that, but the steadfast practice may only briefly mask problems that are expected to surface after the envelopes have been thrown away.
Simon Lam, professor of management at the University of Hong Kong, says businesses traditionally wait to announce bad news like layoffs and cutbacks until after the New Year celebrations have ended.
“The sentiment is that the worst is still to come in the first and second quarters of 2009,” he said. The Hong Kong economy entered a recession in early 2008.
It may be the Lunar New Year bonus, a holiday perk that is not associated with the envelopes and something not tied to tradition, that turns out to be a harbinger of what is to come for China's economy in the Year of the Ox.
Samuel Kam, chief executive of PowerNetix, a small IT company in Hong Kong, says the financial problems of the outside world have already started to affect his business.
“Customers were already cutting back the services they ordered at the end of last year,” he said. “Some of them have just disappeared altogether.”
For Kam, the financial burden is creating a situation where giving bonuses will not be guaranteed, but anyone receiving lai see from Kam might not know that his company is having problems.
“I will probably give the same amount in lai see, because the people I usually give to know me,” he said. He added that he would rather spend less on himself so he can maintain the same amount of lai see to people like his doorman.
A survey in Ming Pao, a Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong, found that more people will be giving out 10 Hong Kong-dollar notes, or $1.28, this year, the lowest socially acceptable amount to give.
The survey suggests that people are not necessarily giving out fewer envelopes, but may be putting less money in each one.
Whatever the survey's findings, many people like the Chungs say they are spending as they always have.
“We will give the same amount this year,” Chung said. “Giving money is lucky.”
