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Red envelopes go digital in China
弘揚傳統 春節紅包數字化
It is a tradition on Chinese New Year to give out cash-filled red envelopes, or 'hongbao', to relatives and children. But with the massive use of mobile phones in China, the hongbao has now gone virtual.
This year, several Internet companies have allowed users to send and receive lucky money through their mobile payment platforms. Figures show that hongbao were sent and received more than one billion times on New Year's Eve, a 200-percent increase from last year.
Following the successful launch of Tencent's virtual hongbao service last year, Alibaba and Baidu launched similar programs this year. It is estimated that the hongbaos delivered via WeChat payment, Alibaba's Alipay Wallet and Baidu's Wallet amounted to around US$1.3 billion.
