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People lining up for red envelopes

The design of the red envelope President Chen Shui-bian will use at Lunar New Year is unveiled at a press conference in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

Despite the rain and cold, people have been lining up outside President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) family residence in Kuantien Township (官田), Tainan County, to receive a lucky hongbao (紅包), or red envelope, from the hands of the president on Lunar New Year's Day.

Many have staked out a spot in line days ahead of time by placing a stool or a chair in their place.

Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said the president had seen many people lining up outside his parents' residence in Tainan on TV and would like them to keep warm in the cold and damp weather.

In addition to the red envelopes, the president will treat villagers to a lunch banquet featuring fried rice noodles and fish ball soup, Lee said.

The presidential tradition was begun by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and now tens of thousands of people line up every year for the chance to receive a red envelope from the president.

The amount of money in the envelopes was reduced from NT$200 to NT$10 in 2004 because of an anti-vote-buying law that limits gifts given by candidates to voters to no more than NT$30.

The Presidential Office yesterday gave a sneak preview of the red envelope Chen will hand out this year. It bears the images of Taiwan and the world with "2008 UN for Taiwan/Peace Forever" written in English.

It also bears the Chinese characters "入聯納福/守護台灣" (join the UN, protect Taiwan). The Chinese names of the president and first lady are printed on the bottom left corner.

The government last year launched a campaign to join the UN under the name "Taiwan."

David Lee said that Chen will hand out about 20,000 red envelopes, each containing an NT$10 coin.
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