The Chinese tradition of giving gifts of money in red envelopes at Lunar New Year has turned into big business for Web giants Alibaba and Tencent, which now both offer electronic "hong bao".

　　新年送礼给红包是中国春节的传统习俗，而今年“红包”已经演变成互联网巨头阿里巴巴和腾讯的网络红包大战。

　　At the end of each lunar year, it is customary in China to give children hong bao -- small sums of money in envelopes that are red, the colour of prosperity. But now the age-old practice is going high-tech.

　　每年农历年年尾，中国人要给晚辈发红包——红纸包里装的钱不多，表达最孩子们的祝福。不过老习俗到了今天也走向了高科技。

　　It is now possible to exchange "red envelopes" via smartphone, which is proving a popular trend in China and has sparked a battle for the lucrative market between the two companies providing the service, Tencent and Alibaba.

　　现在只要通过智能手机就能交换红包， 这么方便的功能让整个中国都陷入了抢红包发红包的热潮，这场红包大战可以看成是两家中国互联网巨头腾讯和阿里巴巴之间的一场用户争夺战。

　　"You don't have to pay the same fees or wait as long as you would for a traditional bank transfer. It's more convenient, simple and fun," Wang Le, a 28-year-old Beijing resident, told AFP.

　　8岁的北京人王乐说：“发电子红包不需要传统红包那样支付手续费和排队，它更便捷、简单和有趣。”

　　"I loved getting red envelopes when I was little, but it was only my older relatives who would give them, and only around the new year," he said.

　　王乐说：“小时候我喜欢收红包，但只能从长辈亲戚那里拿，也只有在新年左右才能拿到。”

　　"With electronic red envelopes, you're not limited by your identity or the time of year. It's a new, fresh way of playing the game."

　　“有了电子红包，你的辈分、是否过年节都不要紧了。这是一种新玩法。”

　　The idea was introduced in 2014 by WeChat, a mobile messaging system with over 400 million users and operated by Tencent, China's largest Internet service portal. It was immediately successful.

　　发红包的概念是2014年微信引入的，拥有4亿多注册用户的微信是中国最大的门户网站之一腾讯网旗下的品牌。红包概念一经推出立刻获得成功。

　　Within ten days, some eight million users had exchanged 40 million virtual envelopes. The minimum amount that can be exchanged is modest -- one yuan, or 16 cents of the US dollar -- and there's also the fun option of splitting a sum between several recipients.

　　短短十天内，约有800万用户收发了4000万个虚拟红包。最低限额为1元，用户也可以将红包拆成多个发放给多人。

　　This year, Alipay Wallet, the payment system run by online retail giant Alibaba, is ready to take on the competition. It is allowing its 190 million users to send digital gifts, notably via the Twitter-like Sina Weibo, of which Alibaba is a shareholder.

　　今年阿里支付宝决定加入红包大战。用户也可以通过微博(阿里持有股权)收发红包。支付宝移动端1.9亿活跃用户加入抢红包发红包的阵营。

　　For the past few weeks a digital battle has been raging, with Tencent banning Alipay from sending red envelopes via WeChat, saying they posed a "security" threat. Recently, WeChat also blocked Alibaba's music app Xiami.

　　仅仅是几周时间，红包大战就火上浇油，支付宝红包遭微信封杀，腾讯给出的理由是有安全隐患。最近微信又封杀了阿里巴巴旗下音乐App虾米。

　　To compete for the public's favour, the two rivals have launched lotteries through which they award red envelopes to users in an online game.

　　为了拉拢用户，两家公司开始了在线抢红包游戏。

　　Tencent agreed to give out 800 million yuan (about $127 million) in envelopes on its WeChat and QQ messaging apps over a ten-day period, with each one worth as little as several cents or as much as $800.

　　腾讯同意在十天内通过微信和QQ客户端发放8亿元红包，最低的有几分钱，最高的能有4999元(800美元)。

　　For its part, Alipay has promised to give out $95 million in envelopes as well as coupons and discounts totalling several billion yuan as part of its publicity quest.

　　作为回应，阿里承诺放出5亿元(9500万美元)现金红包，加上各类优惠券和打折，总价值将超过数十亿亿元人民币。

　　Tencent and Alibaba are not just playing Santa Claus, however -- the publicity surrounding the lotteries has garnered the web giants many more new users.

　　腾讯和阿里此番发钱不是学圣诞老人做慈善——这场红包大战带来的宣传效果给两方都带来了许多新注册用户。

　　It's easy to send and receive hong bao or participate in the lotteries: you simply need to register your bank details.

　　收发红包，或者参与抢红包只需要确认银行卡信息就可以，非常简单。

　　According to market research group iResearch, Alipay controls 82.6 percent of the Chinese mobile phone payment market, compared to 10 percent for Tencent's Tenpay.

　　iResearch给出的数据显示，支付宝坐拥中国移动支付市场82.6%的市场份额，而腾讯的财付通只占了区区10%。

　　However, Tenpay only controlled four percent of the market before the red envelope campaign debuted on WeChat in 2014.

　　不过，在2014年微信发布抢红包活动前，财付通的市场份额更为可怜，只有4%。

　　Alibaba founder Jack Ma has dubbed WeChat's red envelope campaign a "Pearl Harbour-like attack" on Alipay.

　　阿里巴巴创始人马云吐槽微信红包有如珍珠港偷袭。

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（编辑：杨帆）