Banks Busy for CNY

People lined up at HSBC banks today to get a hold of fresh bills for lai see

Chinese New Year is 11 days away and fast approaching.

This morning I went to HSBC in Central to do some banking and was shocked to see massive lines for the bank tellers.

It turns out today is the day people can get new bills to put in their lai see envelopes for Chinese New Year.

Fresh bills are always nice to receive in lai see envelopes!

Some staff had small slips of paper for people to put their "orders" in for how many bills they needed in HK$20, HK$50 and HK$100 denominations.

I gave up on waiting at the HSBC headquarters, but when I reached the branch in Exchange Square there wasn't a line for regular banking and so I did my banking there.

The elderly woman next to me was a cleaner and she was desperate to get her hands on some new bills. She showed the teller a text message of the denomination break down she had to get and worried that she wouldn't be able to get fresh bills if she waited until tomorrow.

On the other side of me one middle-aged woman asked for HK$10,000 worth of new bills, and another didn't care of the bills were new or not. 

A bank staff member told a customer that after all the new bills are given out in Central, then that was it -- "relatively clean" bills would be handed out next. Some people who give out lai see consider giving out used bills to be sacrilege, others just shrug. It is money after all, fresh bills or not.

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!

Picture of the Day: Bank of China

The giant peach blossom tree in the Bank of China lobby

Many shopping malls, offices and apartment buildings have peach blossom trees in vases. It's kind of like a pink Christmas tree, decorated with lai see envelopes hanging from the branches. Peach blossoms are also meant to signify romance and longevity.

These trees are so hard to photograph up close. The one in the Bank of China headquarters in Central is very impressive and I took a picture of it as I was going up the escalator. Only then can you see the size but also the dramatic space that it's situated in.

The sad thing about these trees is that after the new year holidays, they are unceremoniously dumped, and there's no tree chipping service like they have after Christmas in North America.

How about making some kind of compost out of these trees or keeping them alive throughout the year so that they can be used the following year?

Hong Kong needs to be more responsible when it comes to dealing with living things, and of course being more sustainable in general.

But in the meantime we're enjoying this peach blossom tree while it's on display....

Picture of the Day: Gearing Up for CNY

Lots of festive Chinese New Year decorations at an incense shop in Sheung Wan

We're less than two weeks away from the start of the Year of the Pig and I'm hardly ready -- I've been so busy at work that I haven't had much time to think about what I will be doing for the first two days of the Lunar New Year.

Even though I have been receiving lots of new year puddings and turnip puddings that are stuffed inside my fridge, as well as lai see envelopes to give away (with money in it of course), I am not mentally in the Chinese New Year head space yet.

However, millions of other Hong Kong residents are gearing up and this picture of an incense shop in Sheung Wan encapsulates how people are getting ready for this most festive time of year.

Picture of the Day: Sevva

How can you not resist photographing this view from the 25th floor?

Today a well known high-end restaurant called Sevva is celebrating its 10th anniversary tonight and its founder Bonnae Gokson held a memorable celebration.

At first it seemed like it was just cocktails but she had other plans up her sleeve. Three Chinese lions appeared to do the traditional dance complete with the cabbage wrapped with lai see (one for each!) and confetti spewed everywhere.

But that wasn't all -- with the brigade of chefs came a singer who would only give us his name as Robert, who used to perform in musicals in London. He belted out Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast and Memory from Cats.

Gokson was so relieved the weather cooperated and so are we! The view from the 25th floor of Prince's Building was fantastic.

So here's a panoramic shot from tonight, starting all the way from Victoria Harbour to HSBC headquarters.

Picture of the Day: Lai See Envelopes

Some of the more creative lai see envelopes this year celebrating the dog

This being the Year of the Dog has heralded many displays featuring cute canines and it also extended to lai see envelopes.

Designers have been given a lot of space to create some fun envelopes and these are the favourite ones I received this year.

Clockwise from the left is one from Harbour City, with a complicated way to open the envelope by releasing its folded paws to be able to get the money note inside. Why does the dog not have eyes? Seems weird, but cute nonetheless.

Next the red and gold envelope from auction house Christie's gets the award for best graphic design. Look closely and not only are there red dogs, but gold ones too!

We also can't resist the gorgeous face of this mutt from the SPCA that says 一狗万利.

Finally, a red and blue thick envelope from ba&sh, a fashion brand. Pull the gold tab and a and the red dogs turn into a red background with gold lettering that says "Happy Chinese New Year!"

Hong Kong Needs to Cut Paper Use

Some 8 million lai see envelopes were collected last year

Just before Lunar New Year, many companies send me lai see envelopes and I try to give them to colleagues to use, or I keep them. So I was very pleased to find out I could take them to a collection point at my apartment building, where they would be picked up by an environmental group called Greeners Action.

Yesterday I took a bag of unused and used lai see envelopes to the box. I had so many that I had to ask the attendant to lift the lid of the box instead of putting them through the slot at the top of the lid, and when he did, I was pleased to find there were already stacks of red envelopes in there.

Please put your lai see envelopes in this box!

The NGO is trying to make people more aware of the garbage they are accumulating, and that things like lai see envelopes can be used again and again.

Greeners Action's executive director Angus Ho Hon-wai estimates that the amount of paper used to make the lai see envelopes amounts to 16,300 trees.

Seriously?

Does he mean skinny trees or very thick mature ones?

"It's an astronomical figure," Ho says. "I've looked at some numbers and it doesn't seem like other places with Chinese people distribute as much lai see as we do."

Not only that but many people in Hong Kong like to use crisp bills too to symbolize a new start to the Lunar New Year.

Last year Greeners Action collected about 8 million lai see envelopes -- about 30 tonnes in weight -- and about half of them were still good to reuse, the other half was recycled.

The envelopes are given out to people to use again

People have until February 22 to collect their lai see envelopes and drop them off in 500 collection points around the city, including shopping malls, Jockey Club betting stations, residential estates, hospitals and banks.

We should also keep in mind that the city threw out 2,257 tonnes of waste paper everyday -- a 17.5 percent increase from 2015. Hong Kong people really need to not only be more conscious of using paper, but also the government needs to educate them on how to recycle and help make recycling paper and other items a viable business.

Picture of the Day: Blessed by a Lion

A red lion blessing one of the stalls in the wet market today

Kung fu groups are keeping busy through the 15 days celebrating the Lunar New Year. Their members perform lion dances for whoever wants their store, office building, shopping mall, apartment blocks to be blessed.

While the lions will be coming to my apartment building tomorrow afternoon, they were out in force in the nearby wet market today. I went to do my grocery shopping and heard the clash of the cymbals and drums.

On the second floor where fruits and vegetables are sold, a red lion was going stall by stall, performing the same ritual. It bows in front of the stall, then it opens its mouth and swallows the head of Chinese lettuce that's hanging from a hook with a lai see packet or blatantly, a HK$100 bill.

Meanwhile inside the guy is pocketing the money and then rips up the lettuce because after a short moment, the lion's eyes flutter, its ears move, and the it opens its mouth again and spits out bits of lettuce.

At the entrance, several lion heads are on display to add colour

Then it occurred to me -- are Chinese lions are vegetarian? Or they have a preference for lettuce...

Sang choi or raw lettuce sounds similar to "create wealth", and the wet market stall owners are hoping for a good Year of the Rooster.

And the way the economy is going, we're all hoping for financially better year, but we've been warned it's going to be a tough road ahead.

One can only hope a lion will bring luck our way...

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.