University Apologizes For Giving Asian Students 'Hell Notes' Considered Death Threats For Lunar New Year

Why is everyone obsessed with hell notes this year\u2026according to Chinese social media posts, the University of Toronto gave its students red packets with \u7eb8\u94b1/hell notes in it?? Photos from: https://m.douban.com/group/topic/259181573/?_i=439855996da4b87&dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/nc1Nz9uOmf

— Zeyi Yang \u6768\u6cfd\u6bc5 (@Zeyi Yang \u6768\u6cfd\u6bc5) 1643987076

The layers of offense are immense. \n\nTo invoke death in red envelopes, meant to send luck, for Lunar New Year would cause *genuine* distress in my culture. \n\nJoss paper is used culturally, not only religiously, to honour our ancestors & show filial piety.https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/02/04/u-of-t-apologizes-after-giving-hell-money-to-students-for-lunar-new-year.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=uoftapologizes\u00a0\u2026

— Dr. Amy Tan \u8b5a\u7389\u82f1 \ud83e\udd5f\ud83c\udf5c Racism=Public Health Crisis (@Dr. Amy Tan \u8b5a\u7389\u82f1 \ud83e\udd5f\ud83c\udf5c Racism=Public Health Crisis) 1644039538

No amount of EDI can wash this curse offhttps://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/02/04/u-of-t-apologizes-after-giving-hell-money-to-students-for-lunar-new-year.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter\u00a0\u2026

— kvn (@kvn) 1644035839

Hell money is a funerary offering. Receiving it in a lucky red envelope is about as lucky as finding a horse's head in your bed

— Ian Young (@Ian Young) 1644003777

The chinese practice of burning joss paper is to send money to the dead so *this*... is beyond insultinghttps://twitter.com/ZeyiYang/status/1489615881541984258\u00a0\u2026

— Jessie Lam _(:3 \u300d\u2220 ) (@Jessie Lam _(:3 \u300d\u2220 )) 1644349904

Oh come on that was completely intentional there is no way they didn\u2019t see that on the bills before they put them inside the envelopes and they never should of been distributed to begin with. I hope they find those responsible for putting them together and handing them out.

— Krown3ssanceDGG (@Krown3ssanceDGG) 1644327094

#UofT #racism #StopAsianHate\u00a0 #HateCrime #stopasianhatecrimes\u00a0 @UofT Giving Asian students red envelope with Hell Money is totally unacceptable. This is cultural imperialism and undoubtedly white supremacy. Your team showed ZERO respect on Asian culture. Shame on you.pic.twitter.com/PKDR6Idt2D

— Sylvis (@Sylvis) 1643914087

PSA FOR @UofT\n\nYou know how "go to hell" is a bad thing?\n\nThat's literally what you told your Chinese students by giving them literal hell money\n\nDO BETTER WHITE PEOPLEhttps://twitter.com/ZeyiYang/status/1489615881541984258\u00a0\u2026

— Ji\ufffdh\ufffdo Che\ufffd \ufffd\ufffd\ufffd \ud83e\udde7\ud83c\udfee\ud83e\udde8\ud83c\udf0a\ud83d\udc05 (@Ji\ufffdh\ufffdo Che\ufffd \ufffd\ufffd\ufffd \ud83e\udde7\ud83c\udfee\ud83e\udde8\ud83c\udf0a\ud83d\udc05) 1643987781

This is seriously offensive, especially during a time when many in our Asian community are celebrating the most important festival of our religion/tradition. Shame on @UofT.https://twitter.com/ZeyiYang/status/1489615881541984258\u00a0\u2026

— Yuzhou Bai (@Yuzhou Bai) 1643989918

how can you feign ignorance when it literally says hell on ithttps://twitter.com/zeyiyang/status/1489615881541984258\u00a0\u2026

— milf (@milf) 1644084941

this is incredibly embarrassing, and not just because I'm an alumhttps://twitter.com/ZeyiYang/status/1489615881541984258\u00a0\u2026

— Karen K. Ho (@Karen K. Ho) 1643987213

If I receive this I will simply take it as an invitation to meet outside the lockershttps://twitter.com/ZeyiYang/status/1489615881541984258\u00a0\u2026

— Rui Zhong \u949f\u745e (@Rui Zhong \u949f\u745e) 1643989519

Apparently "deeply committed to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion" means no Chinese representation in @UofT's organization.\n\nU of T apologizes after giving \u2018hell money\u2019 to students for Lunar New Year https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/02/04/u-of-t-apologizes-after-giving-hell-money-to-students-for-lunar-new-year.html\u00a0\u2026 cc @dianawangmartin

— \ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89Albert Fong \ud83e\udd1c\ud83e\udd1b\ud83c\udfff (@\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89\ud83d\udc89Albert Fong \ud83e\udd1c\ud83e\udd1b\ud83c\udfff) 1644075377

Serious? This occurred in the flagship university at the world's 3rd largest Chinese colony (after Singapore and Vancouver)\n\nNo one bother to cross check it with the Asian population?https://twitter.com/ianjamesyoung70/status/1489685103538176002\u00a0\u2026

— yiktin (@yiktin) 1644061924