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Q: going to a wedding for the first time here in China,what should I bring as a gift?
I was invited to a Chinese colleague's wedding. I don't know much about the rule here.What should I buy as a gift?or should I simply just give money?(I heard they give money here,as it called Hongbao). Any suggestions?
To my first invitation to a Chinese wedding I brought a 'red envelope with money'. Never can go wrong with that. But the amount of money you put into the envelope depends upon how well you know the people and how much 'face' you wish to give.
Red envelope with money is the standard gift. Anything else will just be weird (unless it's in addition to a red envelope with money.
As bayuvay139 mentioned, how much money you give depends on how well you know the person. The closer you are to them the more money you'll need to give in order to not lose face.
I typically give about 300 for people like co-workers or friends I don't know all that well. Good friends I'll give about 800, and for family (in-laws) I give no less than 1,500rmb. That's just me though, heck if I know if I'm doing it right or wrong 
The "cost" per person on a wedding banquet depending on location and number of food dishes served per table (minimum 5) is 100 Rmb or so. So, when you are invited to a wedding, depending on how well you know the peson getting married, and how much you wish to gain "guangxi" from them, you place inside the red envelope as many 100 Yuan notes as you fell correct. Most "friends" present on a banquet will give 100 Rmb per person present, very close freinds and distant family members may give in the 300 to 500 Rmb range, close family mmbers as much as 1000 Rmb. It does vary from city to city, in Beijing, gifts are higher than in Nanning, for example.
Yes you should give a hongbao. Nowadays, 500 rmb is pretty much the minimum in first tier cities. It can be less if you're in a smaller city but still I wouldn't give less than 250rmb. The best amount to give is 888 rmb.
luggi:
the best amount is as much 8s you can give... i heard about 8888rmb and im sure there have been even higher amounts of 8s given ;)
As the other said, Red Envelopes. But further than this, go to a bank and get new money, and there has to be an uneven amount in the envelope, that is an uneven amount of bills. The weddings we have been at has mostly been highschool friends of my wife, typically we will give 500, but adjust the amount depending on the venue and the relationship.
I don't buy into this.
I explain to the groom or the bride or my friends that in the west we don't just give money. It's cheap and unpersonal. And talk about 'minimum of giving 500' you must be joking.
Most farmers in Xi'an give 1 or 200, why should you give more?
So, I find a gift that I know will benefit them in their new house. I bought a friend who loves coffee a nice coffee machine for around 380, and they loved it. They said they will use it everyday, whereas the money all morphed together and they didn't know who's money they were spending.
I give colleagues 200 rmb, friends 666 rmb, and close friends or family (well, no family in China...yet) 888 rmb. My suggestion to you would be to ask some other colleagues what they plan to give. My company as a sort of unwritten rule that you shouldn't give more than 200 rmb at colleagues' weddings.
Just bring one of those red envelopes stuffed with cash. . . That's the norm here for gifts!
