紅包越來越肥是喜還是憂?大綱
Red packets traditionally contained a small sum of money given to children during the Chinese New Year.
紅包傳統上是在過年期間送給孩子們的一小筆錢。
But unlike in southern China, such as Guangdong Province and Hong Kong, where people mostly give several tens of yuan for children during the New Year holiday, red packets in most parts of China, including Shanghai, now see large sums of money exchanging hands.
但不像中國南部如廣東和香港，那裏的人們大多在春節給孩子們幾十元，在中國的大部分地區，包括上海，現在能看到大筆的錢在手中流轉。
"I'm always amazed to see how generous people are when giving red packets here. The amount is sometimes 50 times what we are used to giving," said Mark, a Hong Kong resident visiting relatives in Shanghai. "I wonder if they really earn that much each month."
“我總是驚奇地看到這裏的人們在給紅包時是那麼慷慨。有時是我們過去給的50倍，”來上海探親的香港居民馬克說。“我想知道他們是否真的每個月賺那麼多。”
A report by TNS, a market research firm, found people on the Chinese mainland on average allocate 3,668 yuan (US$588.8) as red packet money for the Chinese New Year. An average red packet for family members contains 1,323 yuan, and those for relatives average 893 yuan, according to the report.
市場研究公司TNS公司的一份報告發現在中國大陸人們過年平均支出3668元(588.8美元)作爲紅包。爲家庭成員準備的紅包平均1323元，給親戚的平均893元，根據該報告。
Daniel Tao, a Shanghai white collar worker, said his two-year-old daughter had received more than 10,000 yuan so far this year, mostly from relatives and friends.
丹尼爾陶，一個上海白領，說他兩歲的女兒今年目前爲止已經收到超過1萬元的紅包嗎，大部分來自親戚和朋友。
"She really got a good harvest," Tao said, adding that grandpa, grandma, uncles and aunties had each given the toddler 1,000 yuan.
“她真的有一個好收成，”陶說，爺爺、奶奶、叔叔、阿姨每個人給了孩子1000元。
"But we also have to give out a lot in return," he said. "It's almost a meaningless exchange."
“但我們也給了很多作爲回報，”他說。“這幾乎是一場毫無意義的交換。”
For those who are just starting to work and don't have any children, the problem is that they have little money to give away. Some web users complain that they have to spend all their annual bonus on red packets and taking relatives to nice restaurants.
對於那些剛開始工作還沒有孩子的人，問題是他們沒有錢去發紅包。一些網民抱怨他們不得不花費他們所有的年度獎在紅包和帶親戚去好餐廳上。
"It seems that 500 yuan is the minimum amount of money for children of relatives," an online post said. "The tradition of giving red packets will cost all my bonus in a week."
“看來500元是給親戚孩子最少的錢，”一個網民發帖稱。“給紅包的傳統在一星期將花掉我所有的獎金。
There have long been proposing to cut the size of red packets, but reality seems to be against it.
長期以來一直有人提議削減紅包大小，但現實似乎與此作對。
An online poll conducted by Tencent found that 40 percent of web users would allocate three months' salary for red packets, and 70 percent expected to spend more every year.
一個由騰訊發起的在線民意調查發現，40%的網民會爲紅包花掉三個月的工資，70%的人預計每年花費更多。
