On the eve of Chinese New Year, every child can receive lucky money.

The earliest lucky money appeared in the Han Dynasty, and was also called "Yazhenqian" (lucky coin). It was not circulated in the market but was cast in the form of a coin as a decorative item, with the function of warding off evil spirits. The front side of the coin usually had auspicious words such as "Ten thousand years of longevity" and "Remove disasters and eliminate evils", along with auspicious patterns like dragons and phoenixes, tortoises and snakes, and double fish.

There is a story about lucky money. It is said that there was a small demon named "Chui" in ancient times, with a black body and white hands. Every year on the eve of the Lunar New Year, it would come out at night and touch the foreheads of sleeping children. After being touched, the children would develop a high fever and speak in their sleep. After the fever subsided, they would become mentally disabled or crazy. People were afraid of Chui's harm to children, so they stayed up all night lighting lamps, which was called "guarding against Chui".

It is said that in Jiaxing Prefecture, there was a family named Guan. The couple had a son in their old age and cherished him very much. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, to prevent Chui from disturbing them, they played with the child all night long. The child wrapped eight copper coins in red paper, wrapping and unwrapping them repeatedly. After going to bed, the eight coins wrapped in red paper were placed by the child's pillow. In the middle of the night, a cold wind blew in, and the short, dark demon was about to use his white hand to touch the child's head. Suddenly, a golden light burst out from the child's pillow, and Chui screamed and ran away. This incident spread widely, and people began to imitate this practice, wrapping money in red paper and giving it to children on New Year's Eve, so that Chui would no longer dare to disturb them. Therefore, this kind of money was called "Yazhou Qian" (Lucky Money for Warding Off Chui). Since "Chui" and "Sui" have similar pronunciations, over time, it became known as "Yasui Qian" (Lucky Money for the New Year).

Senior family members give children "lucky money", representing blessings for the coming year. In fact, "lucky money" does not necessarily have to be in the form of money. There are many examples throughout history where people did not use money to "ward off bad luck" for their children. For example, the famous literary figure Su Shi of the Song Dynasty gave his son Su Mai a common inkstone, and engraved on it the inscription: "With this, I advance in the way and always remain warm; with this, I seek progress and always remain alert; with this, I manage wealth and always think of sharing; with this, I write prison records and always think of life." This inscription was used to encourage his son. If senior family members give children meaningful "lucky items" or "lucky words" during the Spring Festival, it may be more meaningful and set a good trend. Students should use their "lucky money" reasonably and effectively, to better serve their studies.