How much should one give in a Wedding Hong Bao?

[Wind In My Hair]

I mean i love shark fin soup, until I saw what was going on, when they caught them, slicing the fins off and throwing them overboard.

I used to like chicken, until I found out that farmed chickens spend their entire life in one position as they are cooped too tightly to even move around. They are so stressed they peck out the eyes of their neighbours. Pigs bite off the tails of the pigs cramped in front of them. Chicken, pigs and cattle are hit in the head with a stun gun then immersed in vats of hot water to make their meat more tender. So they are scalded to death rather then given the humane deaths the meat industry claims

I still eat chicken (and sharks fin) when it's put before me, but seldom order or cook it of my own volition. I don't go around making those around me who eat chicken feel bad, as this type of in-your-face preaching is rather putting off. But when others try to preach to me, I preach right back

[x9200]

I think JR8 and many more people are more against the cruelty of cutting off the fins, and throwing the shark overboard, with no way of protecting itself as they are disabled

I understand this, agree (I saw a documentary how is it done) and I was not sarcastic at all. I simply found the soup rather tasty and with clearly distinctive flavour so in direct opposition to what JR8 wrote. No intention to fight, just curiosity.

[ksl]

I think JR8 and many more people are more against the cruelty of cutting off the fins, and throwing the shark overboard, with no way of protecting itself as they are disabled

I understand this, agree (I saw a documentary how is it done) and I was not sarcastic at all. I simply found the soup rather tasty and with clearly distinctive flavour so in direct opposition to what JR8 wrote. No intention to fight, just curiosity.

The distinct flavour is actually from the black vinegar which is always added in the preparation I must agree I like it too. My most shocking experience was at the language institute in China back in 91, I had been eating what i thought was beef for almost a month before I discovered it was dog, I strolled past the restaurant late at night and actually saw them skinning the dog while it was alive, it was hanging by its neck and the hind quarters tied down!

It's illegal in China now, but difficult to stamp out as the meat surprisingly keeps the body warm in winter....and tonight I had what should have been Chicken, but i can assure you the bones didn't come from any Chicken that i have seen before, and the meat was too stringy but white, again mainland Chinese foodstall, could be anything as they also eat rats in China, definately not chicken meat, it was in the City Mall, i can assure you it made me really speculate what i was eating as these 3 inch long slender bones with little meat tasted okay but something wasn't quite right, I left a heap of bones and said to the wife, that is was the strangest chicken I have ever tasted. My daughter said it looked like baby chicken bones

[JR8]

Composite reply:

Stebe:
What kind of bread, white, brown etc., and do you slip a sneaky fried egg in there too?

X9:
I agree with your point, but the issue with sharks fin, at least for me is three-fold (I’m sure others see it more broadly still). Yes finning is cruel, but pointing out battery farming is also cruel does not take away the whole issue. Farmed animals are not endangered, farmed animals do not threaten ecosystems. Oh and that mushrooms don’t contain a whole host of nutrition (although they are high in minerals), does not negate the whole either. Shark fin itself has no flavour, any flavour comes from the soup stock-base and other added ingredients (pork, mushrooms, crab, MSG, etc). Adding shark-fin to a soup really only conveys social status upon the one buying or paying for it. But is the destruction caused by getting it to table really worth that?

WIMH:
re: your analogy. But that does not hold true, as finning-in-action had not been filmed until this decade (as the linked vid demonstrated). So I would suggest that most people are unaware of the cruelty etc. involved in producing shark fins soup.
I only express my views, when faced with people who do not seem to realise the impacts of eating what is in the bowl in front of them, I am not a evangelising zealot.

KSL:
You see the broader picture. Cool.

WIMH:
Doing a blind copy/paste from an activists website is not persuasive, the opposite in fact. For example the line about ‘meat [freshly killed carcasses] being immersed in vats of hot water to make it more tender’. Have you stopped for a moment and thought about the likely veracity of that claim? Or how this ‘tenderising’ might function? Hmmm.
Still comparing battery chickens and sharks... oh dearie me.

------------

Not looking for an argument, just trying to convey that shark-fin is an unusual foodstuff in that when it’s production is considered as a whole, really is in something of a different league. Unfortunately one side-effect of the rapid growth of the Chinese middle-classis is the expectation that rapidly increasing numbers will want to bang out shark fin soup at a wedding meal. You can’t farm sharks, and they’re being driven to extinction, with massive consequences for the marine ecosystem. ... ... And now I think I’m almost done to death with the circularity that this side-topic seems to have become...

[Wind In My Hair]

Good morning JR8, I think we've all made our points and any more will be boring repetition. Have a great Sunday!

[JR8]

Yup, agreed. Have a great Sunday too!

p.s. Off through the blizzards to go and buy our tree now

[the lynx]

Wow, it's really amazing following this thread... Never knew my attempt to seek advice for wedding 'ang pow' would generate lotsa interesting stuff.

Now that's what I call killing two birds with one stone!

Anyway thanks guys for helping out with the figure and also for helping me to understand the wedding culture in Singapore at the same time

[JR8]

It is worth using an ang pow packet that you can clearly write your name/a greeting on.

You might not be able to give it directly to your friend, and might have to leave it with a relative instead, on on the bride's table.

It is nice knowing that they will know it is your gift, particularly if you are generous!

[ev-disinfection]

The ang pows that you give... for weddings, bithdays, chinese new year and other occasions were traditionally noted - (how much in it and from who) so that when the person who gave it would get almost the same amount back.
You support my event, and i will support yours.

The red packets for wedding dinners are usually determined by the venue...
try to find out how much 1 table would cost at the location and put in the red packet the cost for 1 person (table divided by 10), put in double if you bring a partner. Give more if you are manager or boss of the married person.

Us Chinese believe that it is luckier to give then to receive. Think about it... have you seen a begger give?

Now, there is a trick, most wedding dinner these days, have a reception table for guest to find out which table they will be sitting at, sign the guest book or to view the wedding photos. On this table there is a box, for guest to put the red packets in, if there is no box, you will have to give the red packet to the couple.
The trick is to prepare 2 red packets, in the first packet, prepare SGD 20.00 for the box on the table, and the other prepare SGD 80.00 - 100.00 if you have to give to the couple.... (hope that you will forget about this before my daughter gets married)
Anyway, let us know how the dinner went, so that we can talk more about animal cruelty.
Note to self: Farmed sharks / get recipes on how to cook the whole shark...
(local chinese guy)