EMPLOYEES of a Singapore-based business on Teesside have marked the start of the Chinese New Year with a traditional ceremony.
Sembcorp’s 400 employees were given special red packets - known as Hong Pao, Ang Pow of Lai See depending upon dialect - by their managers in an ancient ceremony which mirrored others performed by colleagues in Singapore and at other company locations around the world.
Douglas Annan, senior vice president and site director of Sembcorp, helped distribute the red envelopes.
Each contained six £1 coins - even numbers symbolising good luck and honour in Chinese culture - two Mandarin oranges, also symbolising good luck as well as prosperity, and a small gift - a Singapore calendar.
He said: “We’ve been part of the Sembcorp Industries Group for almost eight years now but this is the first time we have done this. It’s important that our employees recognise that we are part of a larger global ‘family’.”
The business supplies energy, water and a wide range of services to industrial companies on the Wilton International site.