Finding the idea reasonable, Hang, a 27-year-old office worker in Hanoi, contacted a gift shop to make a hairpin QR code for her daughter and a brooch for her son.
“It only took me three days and 80,000 VND including shipping costs to receive the goods. The product is printed clearly and it’s easy for me to ‘swipe’ the code to send money,” Hang said.
Her whole group of friends made bobby pins, key chains and badges and were ready to wait for this. Tet give and receive lucky money in a new way.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Minh Nhat, 31, was browsing social media and saw an ad for a business that could print QR codes on New Year-themed phone cases. He ordered a pair for him and his wife with their bank account printed on the case. Tet, costing 200,000 VND ($8.18). After a few days of waiting, he received a pair of eye-catching red cases with working QR codes.
“It’s been a sad year for the economy. Tet I will have to rely on my children,” jokes the father of two.
Recently, a meme that it does not accept red envelopes and only receives transfers via QR codes has spread on social media. The keyword “lucky money with QR code” produces thousands of results, so it seems the trend has started to pick up steam.
Le Van Tien, 34, was one of many who followed the trend when he uploaded a photo of his two children’s faces and a QR code, then posted it on his social media page with the announcement :
“This year, Tet It looks cold and rainy. If you and your loved ones, here or elsewhere, don’t know how to give lucky money to children, simply swipe the QR code on this photo and they will receive it.”
Giving lucky money by bank transfer via QR code has become more and more popular. Tet season, from using hairpins and keychains to phone cases and clothing, or simply sharing the code on social media.
On social media, there are hairpin groups that print QR codes on demand with up to 10,000 members.
A VnExpress keyword search “QR code Lucky Money” attracted more than 150,000 views on TikTok. On e-commerce platforms, there were dozens of stores selling hairpins, key chains and phone cases printed with QR codes, with prices ranging from 30,000 to 70,000 VND depending on the store, some stores achieving thousands of sales and hundreds of good reviews.
Trang Nhung, who prints and sells such QR code accessories, said this trend originated in China and then spread to Vietnam in early 2023. But it only started becoming popular this year.
Without disclosing the number of orders, Nhung said customers have been buying for two months. A week ago, she had to stop accepting orders because she feared she wouldn’t be able to complete them on time. “Many customers begged but we didn’t dare to accept,” she said.
Associate Professor Bui Xuan Dinh of the Institute of Ethnology of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences said lucky money, known in Vietnam as “lixi”, was originally a Chinese custom to express wishes of luck and good health to children.
Initially, this custom was only practiced among Vietnam’s traders and manufacturers. They earned profits and shared them with their children in the hope that their work would go smoothly.
“The principle of lucky money is new money, in small denominations,” explained the associate professor.
According to cultural experts, receiving lucky money via a QR code is too new to be judged as positive or negative, but its convenience is visible. People who want to celebrate the New Year do not need to exchange new banknotes, do not need to buy envelopes, and do not need to come to the child’s house to meet them.
This convenience also helps people who want to celebrate the New Year but cannot do so with family. This can be due to various reasons, such as living far away, not being able to return home for Tetor not being able to visit each other due to illness or busy work schedules.
The amount of lucky money given to the child goes into the father or mother’s account, so the child does not receive the envelope directly – thus avoiding situations where children might become curious and open immediately envelopes, leading to instances where they would compare and criticize the amount of money each receives – which is considered by many to be rude.
However, giving lucky money via bank transfer is not exactly a traditional custom. Some find that it takes away from the true meaning of the tradition if the person giving the money does not have the opportunity to directly express celebration and encouragement to the child, as well as wish them well in their studies.
“In my opinion, this should be considered only a new form of the tradition that we know, thanks to the development of information technologies. We must still try to maintain the practice of visiting each other on Tet and directly give lucky money to children,” Dinh said.
If visiting is not possible and transferring money is the only way, you should only give a moderate amount of money, according to Dinh. Parents should tell their children who gave them money and how much they received, as well as words of encouragement from the giver, so that children can properly receive true blessings. Parents need to manage their money and teach their children to spend it wisely.
A trending image online that they don’t accept cash for lucky money, but only accept bank transfers.
Psychologist La Linh Nga added that lucky money via QR code transfer, while convenient and fun, can easily be interpreted as being rude and too pragmatic.
“Scanning QR codes will take away the beauty of giving lucky money, without red envelopes filled with wishes and blessings. Money can be spent, but lucky money envelopes can be kept forever ” said Nga.
Additionally, the QR scanner is not suitable for older people who are not familiar with technology.
According to the psychologist, this trend should only apply to groups of young people close to each other, and should only be practiced for fun to avoid embarrassing situations. Parents should inform their children that this trend is only intended to be a fun way to experience online transfers, and should emphasize the importance of giving lucky money and cherishing this tradition.
Anh Hang continues to believe that scanning QR codes represents a modern and trendy lifestyle and is more fun than the traditional way of giving lucky money.
Over the past three years, she has rarely used cash. Each Tet During the holidays, having to exchange money is a waste of time and money, she said. Hang doesn’t carry much when he goes out during Tetso she had to calculate how many envelopes to bring – which she considered annoying.
“My kids don’t know how to keep their money, so sometimes they don’t know where they dropped it,” she said.
Minh Nhat believes that lucky money is a debt that must be paid immediately. In previous years, there were a few times when his kids would follow their grandparents or go out and receive lucky money without their parents being there to return it, and he had no chance of giving back later because that everyone was too busy to meet during Tet.
This led him to feel guilty for the rest of the year and hope he could return double the amount next time. Tet.
“If lucky money via QR code was even more popular, I think I wouldn’t find myself in such a situation,” Nhat said.
