Record amounts of digital hongbao given to the young

Wang Chuxin grinned from ear to ear when his mother, Chen Xiaochong, brought him to a cinema on Thursday.

"After my 11-year-old son was given digital hongbao worth more than 4,000 yuan ($610) during the Spring Festival holiday, he asked me to bring him to see a film, and he paid for the tickets," Chen said.

"And with the large amount of digital hongbao he was given, he asked me to promise him a tour to Beijing in the summer holidays," she added.

Wang, a Grade 5 student in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is not alone in being given several thousand yuan in hongbao - money traditionally given in red envelopes during the holiday.

According to Southern Metropolis Daily, some students in Guangzhou even received more than 20,000 yuan.

Internet giant Tencent saw a record 32.1 billion digital hongbao sent from Feb 7 to 12 via its WeChat messaging platform, nearly 10 times the number last year.

Xu Jiali, an expert in parent-child relations, said parents should encourage their children to use the money to purchase books and attend extracurricular activities.

"Meanwhile parents should teach them how to manage pocket money to prevent the kids from being wasteful," Xu said.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn