Digital Red Packet Transactions for Chinese New Year Continue to Be Popular in 2019

Executive Summary

The Spring Festival, also called the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year, ushers in a period of spending and celebrations across China and other countries that observe the festival.

• Early data released by WeChat, China’s most-used messaging app, show that 14.2% of the red packets that were sent on New Year’s Eve used WeChat’s new feature, which allows users to customize their greetings.
• Those born in the 1990s are the biggest givers and receivers of WeChat’s digital red packets, followed by those born in the 80s and then the 70s.
• The busiest time for exchanging New Year wishes in China was between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM on New Year’s Eve (Monday, February 4).
• China UnionPay saw 81.3% year-over-year growth in the value of interbank transactions on New Year’s Eve.