WeChat Pay introduced its virtual red envelope feature during Chinese New Year in 2014.
The feature digitised the long-standing Chinese custom of giving hongbao, or red packets containing lucky money. Users could send money directly to contacts or distribute it in group chats, where shares could be equal or randomly assigned.
Its launch was closely tied to the 2014 Spring Festival period and a promotion involving China Central Television’s highly watched New Year’s Gala. Viewers were encouraged to shake their phones for chances to receive sponsored virtual cash, turning a traditional gift into an interactive mobile event.
The feature is sometimes confused with later viral campaigns or with WeChat Pay’s broader payment launch. The red-envelope function was introduced in 2014, and its popularity helped drive adoption of WeChat Pay. By the 2016 holiday period, billions of virtual envelopes were being sent, showing how quickly a seasonal experiment became a major digital ritual.