Chinese social media platforms are abuzz with the news that a bridesmaid used a mobile payment platform to receive “hongbao”, or red envelopes, at a recent wedding in Beijing.

On Saturday, many of the wedding guests found to their surprise that they could give traditional red envelopes usually full of 100 yuan notes to the newly-weds in a cash-free way, with one guest posting pictures of what he called his "first Alipay" wedding on his WeChat.

As shown in the pictures, Wang, the bridesmaid, who typically takes the responsibility of receiving, calculating and recording the amount of money in each guest’s red envelope, had a card with a QR code hanging around her neck to let the guests scan and pay by Alipay, which she said was mainly for those who hadn’t prepared their red envelopes or had forgotten them.

But the bride’s mother was truly embarrassed to see the “indecent gesture”, which in her eyes was the same as shouting “give me the money!” to everyone coming to the event. So she asked Wang to take off the card, and receive the hongbao in the traditional way.

Feeling wronged, Wang told Beijing Times that she was absolutely not intending to ask for money, and that she had actually discussed this innovative approach to collecting hongbao with the newlyweds beforehand, who thought it was quite fun and not improper at all.

In the realm of China's netizens, there are two opposing views on the incident. Some people felt it was convenient, while many argued that traditions should be respected.

“Online payments make tradition meaningless. Red envelopes represent auspiciousness and blessings. This makes the whole thing just about money,” said Weibo user @wenyixiaoduanju.

“This can be generalized, then we won’t need those books to write down everyone’s name and how much s/he gives. So awkward,” Weibo user @jingxi-JACEY said.

There are also people who took a neutral stand and suggested that both traditional and digital hongbao should be accepted at weddings, but with the QR code put on the corner of the table. What do you think?