The Custom of Chines Red Packet Exchanges
13
In addition to surname-identity red packets, some modern designs
appearing in the early 1990s have attracted young people — both givers and
recipients. These red packets all have fashionable and trendy images on the covers,
such as Japanese and USA cartoon images. This kind of red pa cket attracts young
people because its design not only allows it to work as a functional object executing
a traditional meaning, but also to provide other satisfactions — “psychological
and emotional satisfactions” — when giving and receiving money (Belk, 1987;
Featherstone, 1991; Hoshino, 1988; Lury, 1996).
The success of this marketing lies not only in providing alternative ways
of consumption, but also in eliminating some of the disadvantages of surnameidentity red packets. Usually, people give the more trendy red packets (purchased
at a higher price) to close relatives. While the amount of money given is generally
greater than other relatives’ and friends’ gifts, the givers do not feel embarrassed
about the amount.
In the future, we will no doubt witness more red packets with elaborate
designs. We can also expect clever business people to produce more varieties of
these red packets to suit wider market demands. However, the changes in physical
properties — the packaging of money — cannot significantly alter the original
functions of the red packet exchange tradition. They will only serve the superficial,
consumptive desires of the current culture. Such marketing exploitations obscure
the original objectives of red packet giving. They also reinforce in children as well
as in adults the growing tendency to value a received red packet only in terms of
the amount of money inside.
Love and care among family members are still (and will always be)
important within Chinese cultures (“Family Relations,” 1993; Mitchell, 1972;
Skynner, 1995). Therefore, understanding and exploring new ways to carry out
senior family members’ love and care is essential. In the past, the tradtion of giving
red packets sufficed for this expression of love. However, as I have shown, this is
not the case in today’s consumer culture. Although we still have this tradtion, and
we can still reenact the practice with each New Year, Fan and Shang (1988: 56)
remind us that the practice of festivals is a continuously-changing process and we
are forced to adapt our “ways of practice’”of the past to the contemporary world
(Ho, 1992: 18). With new developments in society, we have new needs and
expectations for life.
Because of changes in lifestyles, standards, and ways of communication,
personal relations have inevitably changed. In a family, the roles of senior members
and junior members are different from before. Familial ways of communication
have also changed. Today, it is doubtful that parents would still seriously believe a
red packet can dispel evil from their children’s lives, or that a girl would not complain
to her parents if she received a red packet with a lesser amount of money than her