In Taiwan, giving gifts is quite popular. Gifts can be given on many different occasions. When people get married, move into a house, give birth to a baby, start a business, and so on, they usually receive gifts from friends. During Chinese New Year, children and the elderly receive money as a gift. Money is also given to the happy couple on their wedding day. Even when going to a funeral, you must give money to the bereaved. When money is given as a gift in Taiwan, it is always put in a red envelope, unless the occasion is a funeral, in which a white envelope is used instead. The color red represents good fortune while white is associated with death in Taiwanese culture. When giving a gift, foreigners should be careful not to give money in any denomination that has a four, as this number represents death. In Mandarin, the words for death and four sound almost the same. Therefore, Taiwanese people tend to avoid this number. Even today, hospitals in Taiwan don’t have a fourth floor. If they did, nobody would want to stay on it. 送禮在台灣是一種普遍的行為，很多場合都會送禮，諸如結婚、搬家、生子、開幕等等，通常都會收到朋友送的禮物。 過農曆新年時，兒童和長輩會收到錢作為禮物，新婚夫婦在結婚當日也會收到禮金。就連參加喪禮，也必須致贈慰問金給往生者家屬。在台灣，除非是喪禮，否則送錢時一定會放在紅包袋裡，喪禮時則改用白包。在台灣文化裡，紅色代表好運，白色則和死亡有關。送禮時，外國人要小心金額的數字不能包括4，因為這個數字代表了死亡。在國語裡，「死」和「四」發音相似，因此，台灣人通常會避開這個數字。即使是今日，台灣的醫院仍然沒有四樓，如果有也沒有人願意住進去。 |
