There was a kind of little demon called 

sui (Chinese: 祟) in ancient times. Whenever it is

on New Year's Eve, it will appear quietly, touching the head of a sleeping child. The child
who was being touched will be scared and cry, and also will have a headache. Therefore,
in order to prevent against the sui, people in the past did not dare to sleep on New
Year's Eve, and all the lights were called Shou Sui (守祟).
One tale of the folklore is about an elderly couple with a precious son. On the night of
New Year's Eve, since they were afraid that sui would come, they took out eight pieces
of copper coins to play with their son in order to keep him awake. Their son was very
sleepy, however, so they let him go to sleep after placing a red paper bag containing
copper coins under the child's pillow. The two older children were also stayed with him
for the whole night. Suddenly, the doors and windows were blown open by a strange
wind, and even the candlelight was extinguished. It turned out to be sui. When sui was
going to reach out and touch the child's head, the pillow suddenly brightened with the
golden light, and the sui was scared away, so the exorcism effect of "red paper wrapped
copper money" spread in the past China[10] (see also Chinese numismatic charms). The
money is then called “ya sui qian (压祟钱)”, the money to suppress sui.