Hong Kong's Cash Headache
For the lunar New Year that begins this weekend, Hong Kong's currency chief has put forth an unusual resolution: out with the new, and in with the old.
To celebrate their biggest holiday of the year, Chinese traditionally give their family and friends crisp new bank notes. Slipped into small red envelopes, the cash gift known in Hong Kong's Cantonese dialect as lai see symbolizes prosperity and health for the coming year.
Tradition dictates that it is bad form to give used or worn currency. But this month, Joseph Yam, chairman of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, began urging lai see givers to adopt a more conservation-friendly attitude: Forgo brand-new notes and present loved ones with what he calls "good as new" notes, specially sorted for cleanliness.
Although the money often is handed out in small amounts, lai see creates an expensive headache for Hong Kong authorities, Mr. Yam explains. Every year, the Chinese city prints 300 million brand-new notes, worth about $3 billion, most of which wind up stuffed inside lai see packets at Lunar New Year for the city's 6.9 million people.
Banks that distribute new notes -- HSBC Holdings PLC, Standard Chartered PLC and Bank of China -- must arrange for at least 500 security-escorted trips to and from branches around the city.
Weeks ahead of the holiday, which this year begins Sunday, residents wake early to line up at their local branch and exchange their old bills for new. The banks, which ration the new notes, tend to run out by midmorning.
The scarcity can be intentional, to prevent crowds inside that could make it look like "there is something wrong with the bank," says Betty Ku, head of corporate relations at Standard Chartered.
Moving to used notes could save taxpayers at least $15 million annually, as well as conserve paper, says the monetary authority, which regulates the peg tying the value of the Chinese territory's currency to the U.S. dollar.
"For the sake of environmental protection, I hope that we can gradually change our habit of using only brand-new notes for lai see, and use the good-as-new notes instead," Mr. Yam says in a message on the currency board's Web site.
Social conventions make Mr. Yam's attempt at currency overhaul a challenge. A worn bill might look like the giver didn't intend to present lai see -- and did so only after an unexpected encounter with a friend, says Candice Liu, 28 years old, an account manager at a security-systems company.
"An old note might mean that it's emergency lai see," she says. For her part, Ms. Liu doesn't worry whether the notes she receives are old or new, as long as they are legal tender. Her worst lai see experience involved a friend who gave her an envelope stuffed with a McDonald's food coupon.
Some are angry at Mr. Yam's efforts to devalue tradition. Older residents, in particular, cling to new notes as a vital element of the holiday celebration. "This is Chinese culture," says Cheung Ming Fai, a 58-year-old retiree, who stood empty-handed at the entrance to a Bank of China branch in Hong Kong's financial district. Mr. Cheung arrived too late. Like other customers that day, he found himself greeted by a bank officer who let him know that no new notes were available but that he could get used notes.
Ronny Cheung, 65, was making a third trip to his local HSBC branch, in a working-class neighborhood in Hong Kong's Kowloon district. Both times prior, he had missed out on the new notes. On the front steps two hours before the bank's opening, he sat with dozens of mostly elderly residents from the neighborhood. He concealed more than 13,000 Hong Kong dollars, or about US$1,700, which he planned to exchange for sparkling new HK$10 and HK$20 bills.
While some Western cultures often view a gift of money as crass, the tradition in China dates back centuries. At New Year's, elders hand out lai see to younger folk, while married couples present packets to their single friends.
Every year, money supply in circulation, the equivalent of about US$19 billion in notes, tumbles after the new-year holiday as people deposit their lai see back to the banking system, says Michael Lau, senior manager of the currency at the monetary authority.
This isn't the first time the currency board has created a stir at New Year's. In 1995, it phased out the HK$10 note, worth about US$1.30 today, in favor of a new coin. Since coin-filled packets are an unforgivable gaffe, and the next-smallest bill available was a HK$20 note, that effectively doubled the ante for a lai see handout.
Amid an economic downturn in the late 1990s, Hong Kongers chafed as their lai see outlays rose. In 2002, Mr. Yam's office returned the HK$10 note to circulation, partly as a concession to the demands of disgruntled lai see givers.
旧钞也能封利是？
为了迎接本周末开始的中国农历新年，香港金融管理局总裁提出了一项非比寻常的建议：辞新迎旧。
为了庆祝这个一年中最重要的节日，中国人都会沿袭给亲朋好友派送新钞的习俗。将钞票装入一个小小的红色封套，送给各位亲朋好友，象征著来年的兴旺和健康。广东话称之为“利是”。
依照传统，利是不能是旧钞。但就在这个月，香港金融管理局总裁任志刚(Joseph Yam)向广大市民发出呼吁，派发利是时能够多为环保考虑：改掉用新钞的习惯，将经过整理的“虽旧仍新”的纸币送给亲朋好友。
任志刚表示，虽然人们派发的利是数额不大，不过香港当局还是为此花费不菲，也伤透了脑筋。香港每年需要印制价值约30亿美元的3亿张新钞，大多数都被690万香港市民用来在农历新年派发利是了。
汇丰控股有限公司(HSBC Holdings PLC)、渣打银行( Standard Chartered PLC)和中国银行(Bank of China)这三家发钞银行也必须聘用保安公司至少分500次护送新钞到分行。
在春节前数周，市民们已经开始早早地在各个分行门口排队等待换新钞了。还不到中午，新钞已经一抢而空。银行的新钞供应不足也许是有意为之，为了防止银行内过于拥挤，让人感觉“银行好像出了什么事”，渣打银行亚太区投资者关系主管顾韵婵(Betty Ku)说。
香港金管局表示，改用旧钞每年至少可以为纳税人节约1,500万美元，还可以节约用纸。
任志刚在香港金管局的网站上发表了自己的意见，“为了环保，我希望大家能逐渐改变只用新钞封利是的习惯，接受‘虽旧仍新’的纸币。”
任志刚的此番表态是对社会习俗的挑战。28岁的香港市民Candice Liu说，送旧钞显得没有诚意，好像是在偶遇朋友而没有准备的情况下才这么做。
她说，“旧钞也许意味著这是匆忙准备的利是。”她自己倒不在意收到的是新钞还是旧钞，只要是法定货币就没问题。她收到的最糟糕的利是是朋友送给她的，里面只有一张麦当劳(McDonald's)的优惠券。
有些人对任志刚忽视传统的言论很不满。上年纪的香港市民更是认为新钞是过年不可或缺的一部分。
已经退休的58岁市民Cheung Ming Fai说，“这是中国文化。”他没能在中国银行的分行换到新钞，因为来得太晚了。和那天前来换钞的其他客户一样，他被银行工作人员告知新钞发完了，不过旧钞还有。
65岁的Ronny Cheung已经是第三次前往附近的汇丰银行了。前两次，他都没有换到新钞。这次，在银行营业前两个小时，他就已经和附近的一些老人们坐在门口等了。他准备将1.3万多港元（合1,700美元）都换成全新的10港元和20港元面值的钞票。
虽然西方文化中通常将送钱看作是一种粗俗无礼的行为，但在中国这个传统却源远流长。在春节，老年人将利是派发给年幼的儿孙，而已婚夫妇则会为他们的单身朋友送利是。香港金管局高级主管Michael Lau说，香港每年的流通货币供应量总额约190亿美元，一俟春节过后流通货币都会迅速减少，因为人们会将得到的利是存入银行。
任志刚拒绝接受采访。
