It's a holiday thing, especially on New Year. It means a lot of things, for example, if someone gives a red envelope, it means that they wish you a good year. And usually it's the elderly that hand it out to you, so you wish them a good year, healthy and wealthy and some other polite stuff. They would give you a red envelope. the red envelope is called hong bao 红包。It is stuffed with money.
In Chinese<span> and other East Asian and Southeast Asian societies, a </span>red envelope, red packet, lai see (Cantonese), âng-pau (Hokkien) or hóngbāo (Mandarin<span>) is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions such as weddings, graduation or the birth of a baby</span>
