What are the differences of the custom of welcoming the God of Fortune for each Chinese ethnic groups?
In fact, the custom of welcoming the God of Fortune in Malaysia was mainly originated from Guangdong. According to Xinnian Fengsuzhi (Chinese New Year Customs) written by Lou Zikuang, in Guangzhou, Haifeng, Wengyuan, Yangjiang, Dongguan and Hainan Island in Guangdong Province there are no records on the custom of welcoming the God of Fortune. However, there is tradition of “the arrival of the God of Fortune” in Guangzhou and the custom of “opening the door” in Wengyuan. The custom of the arrival of the God of Fortune originated from beggar children who wrote “God of Fortune” on red papers and then shouting out that the God of Fortune is coming. People would give them angpow and buy the red papers. As for the custom of opening the door, Wengyuan people would open the door during the first day of Chinese New Year to burn firecrackers and they would not close the door even at night to welcome the God of Fortune. Clearly, it was only a non-mainstream custom in some places but became popula
