Kids' Rights Over CNY Money

Chinese New Year means children receiving a lot of red envelopes

This is an interesting case -- a 10-year-old boy successfully sued his father to give him back the money he received from Chinese New Year from his parents' friends and family.

Usually parents keep the lai see or hong bao for their children and deposit it into the bank for safe keeping. In this case, the father, surnamed Su, deposited 3,000 yuan (US$443) in the child's bank account from February 2014 to March 2015.

Children in China can receive lots of money from hong bao

In March 2016, Su withdrew the entire amount plus interest without his son's permission. He may have done this because his son began living with his mother until she applied for custody of him in December 2015, which was granted the following April.

During the case, which was heard in Baiyun District Court in Guangdong province, Su claimed the money was given to the child by his friends and relatives who were unrelated to the mother. He also said he had promised his son to return the money, together with interest, when he grew up.

In the end the judge ruled the child had the rights over his savings account and ordered the father to give him back 3,045 yuan.

No touching my hong bao! The court says so!

It's intriguing the court decided to hear this case. Perhaps it had received several of these requests and wanted to lay down the law on parents taking their kids' Chinese New Year money without their knowledge.

So parents -- don't even think twice about taking your kids' lai see money -- it's theirs!

Facts on Lai See

Fresh new banknotes are usually handed out during Lunar New Year

In Hong Kong, for those who are single, and young, Lunar New Year is about receiving lai see (利是). In China, young people who are working give red envelopes (紅包) to their parents as a gesture of thanks for raising them.

The elderly and companies in Hong Kong like to follow the tradition of giving brand new bills -- starting new year -- which has led to a whole industry of printing new banknotes.

Lai see packets are usually filled with $20 or $100 notes

Here are some interesting facts:

HK$8 billion -- the total amount of money people exchanged to get new banknotes this year.

400 million -- the number of new banknotes needed in the run-up to the Lunar New Year.

200 million -- the number of new banknotes printed this year.

1 tonne of cotton -- needed to make 1 million banknotes.

200 million -- the number of banknotes that are yin-san or "good as new" for lai see. Banks have machines that sort out these notes.

Banks sort out notes that are good as new for lai see use too

HK$20 and HK$100 -- the most common denominations used for lai see. These bills are used most frequently and need to be replaced within 18 months.

HK$500 and $1,000 -- these higher denomination bills aren't used often and are usually replaced in two to three years.