Popular messaging service WeChat is hogging the limelight this Chinese New Year — by giving the traditions typical of this festive period a facelift.
這個(gè)農(nóng)歷新年，大眾短信服務(wù)平臺“微信”搶盡了風(fēng)頭——使節(jié)日的傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗煥然一新。

As technology has altered the way people in China carry out certain traditions during Chinese New Year, at no point is it clearer that Weixin, the version of WeChat available in the country, has emerged as a frontrunner in the wave of change.
隨著科技對中國人慶祝新年習(xí)俗方式的改變，微信——中國的微聊媒介，可謂勁頭十足，儼然成為這次變革的弄潮兒。

The Weixin team came upon a brilliant idea of taking the Chinese New Year tradition of gifting money into the digital era. Basically, rather than (or, perhaps, in addition to) giving red envelopes of money to family and friends, Weixin users could tap into digital payments and send monetary gifts of up to CNY100 (around $16.50) per go to others on the chat app.
微信團(tuán)隊(duì)突發(fā)創(chuàng)想，將中國新年送紅包的傳統(tǒng)融入了數(shù)字時(shí)代。大體上，除向親朋好友分發(fā)紅包外，微信用戶還可選擇電子支付方式向微信圈內(nèi)的好友派發(fā)紅包，紅包金額可高達(dá)100元（約16.5美元）。

State media Xinhua reports (hat/tip Tech in Asia) that the first two days of Chinese New Year saw more than five million people across China taking part in Weixin’s online red envelope activity, with more than 20 million red envelopes handed out, according to data from Tencent, the company that owns WeChat.
官方媒體新華社報(bào)道，僅在新年的前兩天，全國就有500多萬人參與了微信線上搶紅包活動(dòng)，共分發(fā)了2000多萬個(gè)紅包。該數(shù)據(jù)來自微信的開發(fā)方騰訊公司。

At its peak, 585,000 people took part in gifting red envelopes over a mere five minutes on Weixin, with 121,000 red envelopes being claimed. The messaging service has an estimated 500 million plus registered users in China alone, while it has 270 million active users worldwide.
在高峰期，僅5分鐘內(nèi)就有58.5萬名微信用戶參與了發(fā)紅包活動(dòng)，其中成功搶到的紅包有12.1萬個(gè)。據(jù)估計(jì)，該短信平臺在中國有5億多名注冊用戶，全球約有2.7億名活躍用戶。

Another tradition has been entirely revamped by Weixin as well.
微信同時(shí)還為另一個(gè)傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗注入了全新活力。

It is customary to send New Year well-wishes to your friends on the eve of Chinese New Year — and this year, a whopping 10 million messages were sent in one minute at peak on the eve of Chinese New Year via Weixin. The number of messages sent this year on the chat app was double that of last year, showing that more people are flocking to the app instead of sending cards or SMS-es.
中國的傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗，除夕要向朋友發(fā)送新春祝福。但是今年除夕，在高峰期，1分鐘內(nèi)竟有多達(dá)1000萬條的短信是通過微信發(fā)送出去的。今年通過微信平臺發(fā)送出去的短信數(shù)量是去年的一倍，這說明較之賀卡或手機(jī)短信，越來越多的人傾向于微信平臺了。

Chinese New Year is a time steeped in tradition, and the fact that Weixin has managed to make its presence so strongly welcomed by users speaks volumes about its ability to straddle the space between old and new.
中國新年是慶賀傳統(tǒng)的時(shí)刻，然而微信卻成功獲得了推廣并受到了用戶的熱烈喜愛，這也大大證明了微信跨越新舊的能力。

As WeChat moves into verticals such as m-commerce, it wouldn’t be any surprise if the app soon disrupts other traditions next year. Who knows, we may just get to see Chinese New Year grocery shopping or delivery, or the booking of transportation back to people’s hometowns, done entirely via WeChat in the future.
隨著微信應(yīng)用到諸如“移動(dòng)商務(wù)”等相關(guān)領(lǐng)域，相信明年會有更多傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗被注入新的時(shí)尚。說不定，以后的年貨采購派發(fā)或回家車票預(yù)訂都能在微信上搞定呢！