The lucky money in the Hongbao is called Ya Sui Qian. Ya mean suppress; one Chinese character with pronunciation of Sui means devils; Qian is the word for money in Chinese language. To put together, Ya Sui Qian means the thing that can suppress devils and maintain kids in peace and safety for a whole year.

The story of "ang pow" dates back to the Sung Dynasty in China. A village called Chang-Chieu was at the time terrorised by a huge demon. No one was capable of defeating it, not even their greatest warriors or statesmen. However, a young orphan, armed with a magical sabre inherited from his ancestors, fought the evil demon and eventually killed it. The villagers were triumphant and the elders presented the brave young man with an ang pow filled with money for his courage in saving them. Since then, the ang pow has become a part of traditional Chinese customs.

In any case, the amount of money given is always even number and amounts ending with 8 are very popular as the number 8 sounds like prosperity.

An amount that ends or involves 4 is usually avoided as 4 in Mandarin and most Chinese dialects sounds like death.  The worse amount to give in a red packet is 44.

To many Chinese, it is considered rude to ask for specific gifts and if unsure of preferences and tastes of the host, giving a gift of cash in a red packet overcomes these issues.

Some four character expressions appropriate for a wedding red envelope are 天作之合 (tiānzuò zhīhé, marriage made in heaven) or 百年好合 (bǎinián hǎo hé, happy union for one hundred years).