CRI听力:Electronic "Lucky Money" Brings New Color to Old Tradition

Giving "lucky money" in electronic form has become a trendy spin on the Chinese tradition of giving red envelopes of cash, or hongbao, to children to mark Lunar New Year's Eve.

Stats from Alipay, Alibaba's e-payment system, shows over 100 million people sent gifts of money via mobile apps during the holiday.

Some people even "pulled an all-nighter" as they played the e-hongbao "game" on their mobile phones.

"Most of my friends have been playing the e-hongbao game. Some of the lucky ones received e-hongbao in 100-yuan denominations. Some only managed to get a few fen."

Alibaba says on New Year's Eve, some 4-billion yuan was sent out as e-gift money.

Huang Zhen with the Central University of Finance and Economics says there's a reason the e-hongbao phenomenon has been so catchy this year.

"First, hongbao is a representation of luck. Second, people are curious to see how much money is in the packet itself. So no matter how much they receive, in the end, people are willing to try their luck."

Several Internet companies, including Tencent, Alibaba, Sina and Baidu have developed red envelope features.

To use it, people have to link their debit or credit cards to their accounts to send out money.

E-hongbao is being lauded as a benefit for consumers, the companies and the environment.

Those who send out the e-hongbao's receive money and -in theory- luck.

The companies providing the e-hongbao earn brand awareness and more users paying through their mobile devices, which makes them more money.

And the environment benefits, as it cuts down on the use of physical red envelopes.

However, some have complained the e-hongbao is just a way to make consumers spend more money.

"To activate the hongbao, you need to spend it on something first. It's just another way of marketing."

One person actually received a five-million yuan e-hongbao.

However, this hongbao can only be used to purchase an airplane from Boeing.

On top of this, some people say they've been cheated tens-of-thousands of yuan by giving out their ID numbers or the pin codes of their bank accounts.

For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.