WeChat has announced that, from today (December 10), individual creators will be able to customise the covers of red envelopes sent on the platform. Red envelopes or hóngbāo 红包 are the way in which money is traditionally gifted in China, especially during celebrations like Chinese New Year or weddings. They are now commonly used for money transfers on digital payment services WeChat Pay and Alipay.
The red envelope customisation function was launched in April last year, but it was only available to companies and governmental and media organisations. This has now expanded but users must have a certified WeChat official account to register for the service (at the moment personal accounts are not supported). WeChat will charge 1 RMB per envelope and covers can be customised with images, brand logos and other supported materials.
Read more about China’s digital economy:
- Chinese fintech, techfin and digital currency – an interview with Yassine Regragui
- Suzhou to launch digital currency red envelopes for Double 12 festival
- China’s digital economy hit 36.2% of GDP in 2019
