the lai see project 🧧

a personal archive of collected hongbao, red packets, ang pau from hong kong

a brief introduction

Lunar New Year is upon us, and that means lai see 利是 (the Cantonese name for red packets, hongbao, angpau , 紅包) are abundant. While lai see are coveted for what lies within -- traditionally, a crisp bank note, the amount based on means and relation¹ -- I've always loved the envelopes themselves, how pretty and varied they are, the texture, the embossing, often gold, on its surface. As a child, I was careful not to damage the envelopes I received, keeping the empty ones in the top drawer of my bedside table. When I was back home in Hong Kong this winter, I spent some time looking around a lai see shop on the street, and then tried to find my own collection at home. It was devastating to realize that it couldn’t be located, likely lost after my parents renovated the apartment. Luckily for me, the women in my family are varying degrees of hoarders and/or sentimental, who kept their own collections. My sister had a pile, my grandma had a bigger pile, and my mom had boxes. I gathered them all, and spent many hours this winter in our living room, looking through all the lai see, and scanning the ones that stood out to me. I ended up digitizing 200+ lai see packets, collected family members in Hong Kong from the last decade or so. There were a couple in there that made me incredibly nostalgic, the ones that I received from my parents or grandma several times in childhood, but many I’ve never seen before, and appreciated the beauty and creativity.

In this post, I’m sharing 70 of the lai see scans I made, loosely categorized by what is on them (i.e., zodiac animal, surname, LNY greeting, imagery, nontraditional colors), or the origin of the lai see packets (i.e., banks, luxury brands, other companies). Most include both the front and back of the lai see, while others only show the front. Many thanks to my mom, sister, and grandma for sharing their lai see packets with me!

I hope you enjoy the collection — if you repost or share the images, please credit + link back!

wishing you a happy and prosperous year of the snake!

zodiac animal

featuring the zodiac animal associated with the new year

surname

featuring the giver’s surname (one Chinese character), so recipients can later recall who the lai see is from

greeting

featuring popular auspicious words and phrases (oftentimes a 4-character saying), usually also used verbally to greet others during LNY

imagery

featuring auspicious imagery

non traditional colors

traditionally, lai see packets are red (symbolizing good luck and prosperity) or gold (representing wealth and abundance). these feature packets of other colors, which have become more common in modern times. most of them still have gold accents though!

origins

many institutions give out branded, empty lai see packets for free to their clients and customers. you’ll notice that most of the lai see featured in the sections above are branded. alternatively, you can purchase empty lai see packets from dedicated lai see shops or other local shops (stationary, grocery, etc) that sell lai see packets during LNY.

banks

luxury brands

other brands

a little bonus

LNY greetings noted by my grandma on the back of a lai see packet

behind the scenes !

thank you for reading!

if you think a friend would enjoy this post, please feel free to share it with them! and if you have any fond memories with lai see, or a favorite from this collection (or from your own!), i’d love to hear it. it’s also my first time undertaking such a large digital archiving project, so any tips or feedback would be much appreciated.

1. lai see are red envelopes containing cash. it’s a tradition for them to be gifted to younger and/or single people at social or family gatherings during lunar new year and special occasions like weddings, graduations, birthdays. you can learn more about lai see etiquette in hong kong here!