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Story of lucky money
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ON the Chinese Lunar New Year' Eve, it's traditional for parents and relatives to give "lucky money" to their unmarried children. The practice is a very old one, dating back many years.
According to legend a goblin with a black body and white hands named Sui (in Chinese the word also means a year), comes out on the Chinese lunar new year's eve while the kids are asleep, entering their bedrooms to touch their heads. If Sui is successful, the children he touches can develop terrible fevers and have nightmares.
And worse may happen. After recovering from the fever the kid will be brain-damaged. Therefore, people don't go to bed on the eve and keep all their lights on in order to keep Sui away. The custom, indeed, is called watching out for Sui.
Now, knowing of this legend, a smart man named Guan, who lived with his wife in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, had an idea. They had a son in their 50s, and loved the boy very much. In order to keep away Sui, Mr Guan put some copper cash in a piece of red paper and then put the red paper under his son's pillow. At midnight, when Sui appeared to touch the boy's head with his white hand, a shaft of golden light blasted the goblin from underneath the pillow. Sui screamed and ran away.
The father told all his neighbours and friends how to protect their children. From then on, parents put some copper cash in a piece of red paper under their kid's pillows on every eve of the Chinese lunar new year. Sui never had the chance to attack kids again and to this day people call this money "ya sui qian" (money to keep Sui away).
Nowadays parents still put some cash into a small red envelope and give it to their children. Every child is anxious to get the money, though not, perhaps, for protection but for pocket money.Liu Yan
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