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red envelope significance

gfoak3gfoak3 member
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in Chinese Weddings
Hi I am the new gwailo wife of my asian husband.   My MIL explained this to me when I received the gift, but silly me, I already forgot the significance.   We received a red envelope with $169.   I am curious what the significance of this is besides the standard phrase "lucky numbers."  Hehe, can anyone enlighten me why they are lucky numbers?    Thanks!
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Re: red envelope significance

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    LanaJadeLanaJade member
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    edited December 2011
    Gee, I don't know about the 1 and 6. 9 is a lucky number because it sounds like the word "forever". HTH
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    prettypinktressprettypinktress member
    First Comment First Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    This is the only thing I was able to find on it from "Numbers in Chinese Culture" on Wikipedia... doesn't exactly sound lucky, but it's the only thing I could find!:167, 169, 1679: In Hong Kong, seven (七) and nine (九) both have similar pronunciations to and , respectively, two of "the five most insulting words" in Cantonese - the male genital. Six in Cantonese also has a similar pronunciation to an impolite word which is used to count the number of cylindrical objects. Therefore, 167, 169, 1679 and other creative combinations (such as the infamous taboo "on-9-9") are dirty jokes in Hong Kong culture.
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    yumiko_niko_nikoyumiko_niko_niko
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    edited December 2011
    169 sounds like “一路走” which means walking down path. It also sounds like "一路久“ which means a path for a long time. So combining the meanings, basically, she is wishing you two walk down the same path together until you're old and wrinkly. Congrats!
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