Lai see envelopes contained ‘hell money’ for the dead, in Lunar New Year blunder at University of Toronto
- The university says it ‘deeply regrets’ the distribution of the red packets at its Graduate House residence
- Hell money is traditionally burned for the dead, and is sometimes used by triad gangsters to threaten victims
The University of Toronto has apologised after lucky lai see packets containing “hell bank notes” were distributed at a student residence, in an attempt to celebrate the Lunar New Year that went horribly awry and offended some students.
Distributing hell money – fake currency that is burned to commemorate the dead – is considered gravely offensive in Chinese culture. Triad gangsters sometimes do so as a death threat or a form of intimidation.
The recent blunder at the Graduate House residence was described on Chinese social media platforms, including Xiaohongshu, where residents posted copies of emails from Graduate House staff and photos of the hell money.
An apology was posted in Chinese on the University of Toronto’s official WeChat account on Friday morning. It said the university “deeply regrets the mistake”.
“The University of Toronto received information from students about the new year’s red envelope incident at Graduate House … the University of Toronto immediately contacted relevant departments and teams to understand the incident and withdrew all of the red envelopes,” it said.
In a subsequent statement in English, the university clarified that by the time it was realised a mistake had been made, “all the envelopes had been taken”.
