Employees of several internet companies in China started the Lunar New Year on a high note as they received red envelopes from their employers on the first day of work following the long Spring Festival holiday.

Since the establishment of Internet company Tencent in 1998, its founder and CEO Pony Ma never fails to hand out red envelopes to its employees every year. Aside from Tencent, other establishments including Alibaba, Xiaomi, Meituan.com, smartphone maker ZUK, and Giang Interactive Group have a similar tradition.

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The red envelopes that were presented by Ma at Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen, Guandong Province on Feb. 15 reportedly contained between 20 and 100 yuan. In addition, the company also sent out 400 yuan ($61.28) to every of its employee through the digital red envelopes via WeChat and QQ. The bonus serves to encourage employees and enable them enjoy a splendid start of the year. 

Digital red envelopes have been a fad in China for some years now after Tencent promoted it on its social media platform WeChat. Last year, Tencent allegedly earned nearly 200 million mobile payment users following its 500 million yuan investment in its red envelope campaign.

Although handing out these virtual envelopes containing cash seems to be simply taking advantage of the emerging mobile payment market in the country, giving actual red envelope has always been a Chinese tradition. 

"Giving out red envelopes is a nationwide tradition that can involve consumers in major cities and small towns, so it makes sense for Internet companies to sink significant investments into this," said Li Chao, an analyst from an Internet consultancy firm iResearch Consulting Group in Beijing. 

TagsChinese red envelopes, Lunar New Year, Spring festival, Tencent, digital red envelopes