Chinese New Year Red Packets Are Works of Art Created By Capitalism
A photo essay of my collection
Feel free to skip the beginning if you just want to look at cool red envelope packets. You’re going to miss my New Year rant though.
Lunar New Year starts today. Which means that people in Hong Kong are actively engaging in a silent battle of wits, Maths, and subtle violations of unspoken social protocols.
For those who still don’t know, Lunar New Year, also called Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is a festival celebrated around January or February by Sinophone populations around the world.
The vibe of Lunar New Year is similar to how it’s like in the US during the time between Christmas and New Year — there is a stretch of consecutive public holidays from the first day (初一) to the third day (初三) of Lunar New Year, and one of the main activities is to gather at your grandparents’ home to just chill (this activity is called bai nian (拜年) i.e. “visit relatives and friends during LNY”).
During those gatherings, time isn’t real and nothing matters; the TV usually awkwardly plays in the background as children run around the living room. Adults struggle to hold a conversation.
As if those gatherings are still not enough of a social nightmare, some lunatics…
