Soldi in regalo. Hongbao e fenzi: differenze semantiche

[Autom. eng. transl.] In the Chinese view, notoriously pragmatic, no gift is more welcome than money, lǐjīn 礼金, literally: "the gift in money". In this paper we analyze the two terms with which we usually refer to the gift of money: hóngbāo 红包, "the red envelope" and fènzi 份子, "the share". After analyzing the contexts of use, a socio-linguistic interpretative key is proposed: the gift of money in a red envelope does not provide for the return of the amount and is a passage of money between individuals, that is, between the person who gives the envelope and the client, politician or friend; on the contrary, the fee constitutes a temporary loan, with the function of creating solid social bonds between the members of the group, and has a collective dimension - it involves families, binding them over time.