Fapiao (�发票) are official invoices, registered at the local tax bureau, which are used as some kind of final proof-of-purchase of a good or service. They often come in a bilingual version (albeit with some signs of Chinglish).

The government introduced (possibly modelled after Taiwan) in 2002 a new series of fapiao, where prizes (cash value) can be won just by scratching the "prize area" on every fixed-quota fapiao. Machine-printed fapiao for restaurants, hotels and other entertainment areas also have the "prize area".

Every new fapiao has two scratch areas: the "prize area", and a lesser-scratched "password area". The "prize area" may be detachable; don't detach this area at any costs if you have just won a prize! It is best to keep this area undetached. The password area is more useful for determining if this is a real fapiao or not.