Trying to find the perfect Father’s Day gift is difficult enough, but showing appreciation to him doesn’t have to be. Sending a Wechat hóngbāo（红包，red envelope）seems like the trend these days in special days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. It doesn’t have to be parents giving a hóngbāo to their children, but children also can send a hóngbāo via WeChat as well to show their love, and of course the meaning of it matters more based on the amount of money you send. As some of you know, in traditional Chinese culture, certain numbers are believed by some to be auspicious or inauspicious based on the Chinese word that the number sounds similar to. The numbers 5, 6, 8, and 9 are always considered to be good and lucky, while 4 and 7 are generally considered as unlucky numbers. Here are a few numbers in Chinese you could use to express gratitude, love, and thankfulness to tell your hero growing up just how much you care about him.
520
520 It is pronounced as “wǒàilíng”， which sounds similar to “wǒàinǐ” （我爱你, I love you）. Like ILY in English, 520 originally started as a slang word online as a shortcut to saying I love you in Chinese. Now, you can see on the 20th of May, people celebrate love as a special day. More couples choose that day to get married or send each other WeChat hóngbāo in any number as 520, such as RMB 5.20, RMB 52.0, RMB 520, or more. It’s not limited to just romantic days, and more people are sending WeChat hóngbāo to their father to show their love in a trendy and fun way in China.
521
521 Similar as 520, 521 is pronounced as “wǒàiyī”. 521 generally means “I love you” because of the likeness in pronunciation “wǒàinǐ” （我爱你, I love you）. The only difference between 520 and 521 is that 520 is more commonly used compared to 521.
5201314
5201314 1314 is pronounced as “yī sānyísì” , which is similar to “yī shēngyíshì” （一生一世，One Live One Dead；Forever）. 5201314 together sounds similar to “wǒàinǐ yī shēngyíshì”, then by sending WeChat hóngbāo in any number together as 5201314 means “I love you forever”.
666
You might wonder why there are a lot of people use 666 as their lucky number on car plates, phone number, or even password in China, The oft-dreaded western number 666 is actually considered very positive in Chinese culture, as 6 means luck in Chinese culture. 666 originally started online as a word to describe something great and cool. Now people also use it as a number for triple luck.
888
8 is one of the luckiest number in Chinese culture because it sounds like “fā”（发）, which means “wealth” and “prosper” in Chinese. Multiples of eight are even better, and people prefer 888 as it triples the fortune associated with the 8. So why not send RMB 8.88, RMB 88.8, or RMB 888 to wish your hero prosperity this time around.
Photo: express.co, Hainan airline.com, weibo.com
