Thursday, February 12, 2015

Chinese New Year Ang Pao Market Rate 2015

Update 15/02/15 : Revised rate in OCBC Malaysia Facebook page:



This year the Chinese New Year would fall on the 19th of February. It coincides with the winter school holidays here, so I wanted very much to go home with Aelig to celebrate this event with my family. Well, didn't make it last year and couldn't make it this year. Hopefully next year then.

I found the below information interesting so I would like to share it with you. In Malaysia, it is the trandition within the Chinese communities to offer angpow (red envelop stuffed with money) from married adult to other unmarried adults / kids. This is just a general guideline on how much money you want to slip into the red evelope before distributing.


Kids love receiving ang pao. I remembered we would share among friends the amount of ang pao we collected. There were many memories : friend bribed me to accompany her to someone's house because the host would distribute angpow; whose parents among our schoolmates would give the highest value. Mostly I envied friends who had grandparents because they would get at least four more angpow than me. At that time, we got RM1 - RM2 from friends parents. RM5 would be considered a big win.

Over the year the market rate has increased significantly. I didn't have much chance distributing angpow because I didn't go back for Chinese New Year every year. The first year I did that I gave out around RM1500 in angpow, which was a huge budget, but on the other hand Aelig received lots of then so it even out. Still, for couple without kids with moderate household income, it must be a big burden doing this.

A site note : I used to think that giving out angpow is so much pratical compared to giving present (eg during Christmas). One of my coworkers told me that she prefers giving gift, as giving 20€ to someone is a big budget to her, but the amount is relatively insignificant to the one receiving. I found it so true. These days kids get so much pocket money that RM20 is really nothing for them, but a nice T-Shirt might make them happy.


8 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:41 AM

    Interesting! We received many "hong bao" on behalf of Mark when we visited in the fall, and I was surprised to see how much money was in it.

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    1. Ang pao is Hokkien (Fujian) prononciation of Hong Bao. I think in Hong Kong they call it "Lai Si".

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  2. I did not even know that there is a chart. For the middle income, why give more money to children of friends and colleagues than to own nieces and nephews and grandchildren? I give more to my relatives' children.

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    1. I agreed with you. My biggest ang pow usually goes to my parents, then nieces and nephews. But I only give them when I'm in Malaysia. Before I was married, some of my relatives would still give me ang pao even though I was overseas.

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  3. I just look at the revised rate at OCBC's facebook. The rate is much higher in the latest chart.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the information, I will update my blog.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. It's just a reference. Do it based on our affordability. Anyway, angpao is not the monetary value but only 一份心意 :-)

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