The listing, Red envelope 红包 New, Never Used has ended.
Red envelopes are gifts presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or on holidays such as the Chinese New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits. The act of requesting for red packets is normally called tao hongbao (Chinese: 討紅包; pinyin: tǎo hóngbāo) or yao lishi (Chinese: 要利是; pinyin: yào lì shì), and in the south of China, lai see (Chinese: 逗利是; pinyin: dòu lì shì; Cantonese Yale: dau6 lei6 si6). Red envelopes are usually given out by married couples to single people, especially to children or work colleagues.
The amount of money contained in the envelope usually ends with an even digit, in accordance with Chinese beliefs; odd-numbered money gifts are traditionally associated with funerals. Still in some regions of China and in its diaspora community, odd-numbers are favored for weddings because they are difficult to divide. There is also a widespread tradition that money should not be given in fours, or the number four should not appear in the amount, such as in 40, 400 and 444, as the pronunciation of the word "four" resembles that of the word "death" and thus signifies bad luck for many Chinese (See Numbers in Chinese culture).
During the Chinese New Year, mainly in Southern China, red envelopes are typically given by the married to the unmarried, most of whom are children. The amount of money is usually notes to avoid heavy coins and to make it difficult to judge the amount inside before opening. It is traditional to put brand new notes inside red envelopes and also to avoid opening the envelopes in front of the relatives out of courtesy.
Red envelopes are also used to deliver payment for favorable service to lion dance performers, religious practitioners, teachers and doctors.