Twitter Bits: Physical Virtual Hongbao, Fireworks, No Fireworks, and a Very Old Dog

0 0
7:00 PM HKT, Sat February 17, 2018 1 mins read

We’re well into the Year of the Dog, and everyone seems to be getting in on the action in a different way. For its part, internet giant Tencent — a major player in the Hongbao Wars — is evidently stepping its game up in the offline world.

If you’re not familiar with the practice: it’s a New Year’s tradition to give out red envelopes filled with cash (hongbao). In recent years, as China has gone increasingly cashless, this tradition has shifted online, and inspired some pretty advanced techniques.

TechNode reporter Frank Hersey reveals that Tencent, which has spearheaded the red envelope’s online drift, is this year also getting into the original, offline hongbao wave but, uh, they’re doing it wrong:

Another major Spring Festival tradition: fireworks! State news agency Xinhua has a nice roundup of Chinese New Year pyrotechnics around the world, including displays in Manhattan, Auckland, and Moscow:

One major world city that did not have a fireworks display for the holiday? Beijing. AP Reporter Gerry Shih captures the blackness as municipal ordinances and on-the-street enforcement put a damper on the erstwhile very lit tradition:

(Catch a glimpse of what Spring Festival fireworks in major Chinese cities looked like not too long ago here.)

Finally, let’s go back to Auckland, whose Museum has a really, really old dog to share with the world to mark the New Year’s beginning:

Join the Conversation
0 comments
Write comment

Loading...
Pour yourself a stiff one, we'll be with you in a minute