Sending red envelopes online has become a new custom for people to celebrate the Spring Festival. (File photo)

According to the report — 'New Year on the fingers' jointly published by Ant Financial Services and China Business Network, sending red envelopes online has become a new custom for people to celebrate the Spring Festival. Every user of Alipay in Beijing sent 643 yuan worth of red envelopes on average over the New Year of 2016.

Data published by WeChat shows that 32.1 billion red envelopes were sent and received from New Year's Eve to the fifth day of Lunar New Year, an increase of almost ten times on the same period last year. Among them, 250 million red envelopes were sent in Beijing and made it the city sending largest number of red envelopes in China.

Sending red envelopes online has become a new custom for people to celebrate the Spring Festival. (File photo)

In recent years, sending red envelopes online already had become a good match with the Spring Festival. Many older people have followed the trend and participated in the fun. During the Spring Festival of the Monkey, people under the age of 55 sent a total of 166 million red envelopes; people over 55 years old sent 96 million red envelopes.

"I play on WeChat to follow you rather than catch up with the trend of the times," many elder people said. Many young people immerse themselves in a world of mobile phones and ignore face-to-face communication. Old people are trying out the new way to connect with children and experience its more convenient consumption methods.

This article was edited and translated from 《微信：春节期间北京发出超2.5亿笔红包 领跑全国》. Source: Beijing Daily. The author is Fan Xiao.