Lucky number
The Beijing Olympics start at 8pm on the 8th day of the 8th month in 2008. In case you didn't get it, China has a thing for the number 8.
In this country, 8 is a lucky number (the Chinese word for 8 - "ba"- sounds like the word for wealth.) So, China's decided to start the most important event it's ever held at the luckiest possible moment.
One person already singled out for particular luck is the IOC's Honorary Life President, Juan Antonio Samaranch - who turns 88 today. A Chinese interviewer recently told Mr Samaranch how lucky he was to be reaching such an auspicious age in such an auspicious year for China. Mr Samaranch looked suitably happy to be informed of his good fortune.
If you don't happen to be 88, you can always buy as many 8s into your life as you can. Some of China's richest people pay huge amounts at auctions for car license plates containing as many 8s as possible. The same goes for phone numbers - one Chinese airline paid 340,000 USD to get all the 8s for its sales line. (Out of interest, we dialled a few mobile phone numbers containing loads of 8s - but got no answer. Presumably the owners were fed up with taking calls from strangers asking them about how lucky they were.)
By contrast, the number 4 is unlucky in China - 4 in Chinese - "si" - sounds like the word for death. We dialled a mobile phone number with the maximum number of 4s - and found that it was unassigned.
For westerners, of course, the number 13 is unlucky. So, when Chinese people and people from the West live in the same building in Beijing, it makes numbering apartment floors fairly complicated.
One example...
Notice the floors that are missing: 4, 13, 14. Presumably the exclusion of these floors makes the building lucky enough for people of all nationalities and superstitions.
I’m 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~37~RS~)
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well... in the words of Mitch Hedberg: "My hotel doesn't have a 13th floor because of superstition, but people on the 14th floor, you know what floor you're really on."
I suppose in this case its those on the 15th?
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Regarding the no 13, now we can see clearily the effort that the Chinese are trying to understand the West and the respect that the Chinese towards the Western culture. However what kind of effort the West hase made to understand the Chinese?
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In Italy the number 17 is considered unlucky instead of 13. This is because in Roman numbers 17 is written XVII, which is the anagram of the latin word VIXI, that means "I lived".
Why is 13 considered unlucky?
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We have a thing for number '6' as well. When it was 06/06/2006, many Chinese thought it was a lucky day, and so did one of my friend in the US, but her local colleagues gave her a strange look coz they obviously have a very different idea about the number 666 (just think the remake of The Omen came out the same day~~~)
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8 is read as "fae" in Cantonese.The word is so popular in the early years of Chinese market economy.Literally it's "getting rich", but gradually this is widely understood and used to mean " getting bigger "or "getting stronger".
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I for one would like to take the middle path, so my number plate is an average of the most lucky and unlucky- 666 666.
Wait...
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Used wisely, this is be of important good impact, e.g. wealth re-distributions. Rich people can spend a portion of their fortune on *s. This can be quite good for the society.
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That is very interesting topic, i found the same when i back to China during summer time, it is a bit of overdone from my point of view.
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"Notice the floors that are missing: 4, 13, 14. Presumably the exclusion of these floors makes the building lucky enough for people of all nationalities and superstitions."
Yes lucky enough and because they would be easier to sell.
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Hi James,
This entry makes you sound like a cognizant Chinese expert yet again!
But strictly speaking, the pronunciation for "8" in Chinese - "ba" - does not sound like "wealth" but like "to prosper", "fa". And "fa" is commonly used in tandem with, in fact followed by "cai", which in Chinese carries the meaning of wealth.
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I remember we hoped that the date would be in September at the very beginning because it is the best season in Beijing. but it was refused by the IOC since all the olympics are in Augest. being a chinese, I am not deny all the numbers have special meanings for us, however, 8 is not the only one, such as 6, 9, for myself 5 and 7 are all welcomed.
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What's wrong with 14? And what happens if you live on the '5th' floor - i.e. the floor that is 4 up from the ground? Surely a step too far?
Still, that's culture for you.
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Very nice. A light humorous subject to take the tense out of the intensity.
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people of china will need all the 8 s in the world to taste freedom and democracy. or rather than chosing a number that sounds like wealth they should chose a number that sounds like " liberty". I wonder where hides the assertiveness of the chinese who respond to this blog, when it comes to bad policies of chinese govt - like tianmen massacre and so on
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Cough Cough. 8 (ba) does not sound like money in any way. it is the way 8 is written, like two coins. Which stands for wealth.
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In India, it's usually the number 9 (for some folks anyway). If they can't get car licence plates with 9's on them, they try to get plates in which the digits add up to 9. I know some people who include even the English letters on the plates in this calculation, assigning a numerical value to each letter based on its place in the alphabet. 6 is supposed to be unlucky, I think.
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James, this is light and entertaining. Surely, you can't be accused by the Chinese bloggers as bias or this posting as a part of Western conspiracy to smeer China?! Thanks for the tidbit and a change of pace. I feel lucky today. May be I'll buy a lottery ticket.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Hi: James!
I am afraid I have to disagree with you this time, although most of the time you have my knods. By the way before going to the point, I would like to say, you are doing a great job there in China. It seems you know the place as a thinkful local or you have some great assistants around you. Do not fire them should they ever make a forgivable mistake. Reason why is that your reports touch the core issue but without offending the officials, which is utmost important. As you may have known that China is being run by the government but the people.
Now, about the #8. I am a Chinese in blood and was brought up and educated in China, although I taught myself English. I do not think this "#8" thing should generalised as Chinese's favourite choice. As far as I know, this thing is oriented from some area other than mainland China. As far as the pronouciation is concerned, the standard Chinese pronounce #8 as "BA" ( not British Airways, :-) ). While following your explanation, the wealth, the getting wealthy, to be precise, is "FA". The difference is obvious. However my investigation shows, only those who are unable to pronounce standard Chinese properly can make this kind of connection and I do know who they are. To be diplomatic, I keep it withheld. Nevertheless, it may have been a trend that the proper Chinese speaking people have picked this strange thing up. But first of all you have to see who they are and secondly I strongly believe that majority Chinese people, especially those have some brain, like those working around you, will not do this kind of "thing". Examples could be millions. Here is just a small one, though. Ten or more years ago, there was a fashion that the US currency was referred to as "Mei Jin" ( there are still people using the same nowadays), meaning US gold currency. I was much younger and very worried this might spread as an epidemic. I even advised some Chinese diplomats not to do so for they are representing the people's republic of China, the country. I wasn't able to check if it has ever worked. Guess what, after all this years, surprisingly I found there are much more people using the official translation of US currency than that Mei Jin thing. I am confident, quite confident, with the opening policy that China is embracing, time will dump this #8 thing to the historic dustbin.
If possible, without violating the rules and regulations imposed for your work or movement maybe, you may want to contact as many as possible some non-business people, some working class people. You may already know how the rich Chinese made their big or small fortune. They do not reflect true China, never they will. Thanks
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Actually, the word "8" sounds like the word "to prosper" in Chinese. It is no more or less logical that the Western fear of the number "13" !!
We all have our foibles !!
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To post no. 14...
It's so easy for some to resort to talking about Tian Square. Martial law was declared because of the violence that was occurring, as with problems when Katrina hit the states. Do you really think that all Chinese are repressed in denying the 1989 incident? I agree that the force was too excessive, and I also think that any detainees should be released, but from your tone, it seems as though you're not looking at both sides of the story.
Many students at the time now regret what had happened and realised that they were wrong to assert themselves, and many of the Chinese public just want to move on and they can see China changing for the better. The Germans still feel sorry for what happened for WWII, they/we need to get over it and move on.
Whether I'm right or wrong, there is a good documentary named the 'tankman' that you may want to view... it is on the Frontline website.
Sorry if I've caused any offence.
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14. At 3:53pm on 17 Jul 2008, four_lions wrote:
people of china will need all the 8 s in the world to taste freedom and democracy. or rather than chosing a number that sounds like wealth they should chose a number that sounds like " liberty". I wonder where hides the assertiveness of the chinese who respond to this blog, when it comes to bad policies of chinese govt - like tianmen massacre and so on
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Not a surprising attitude/post for an individual who feels him/her-self important enough to become England's 4th lion.
To condescendingly take a political swipe at China even with regard to a light topic such as this is simply juvenile. My assertiveness is not hiding anywhere; And I am sure you are shown that assertiveness from Chinese people frequently and often.
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12. At 2:41pm on 17 Jul 2008, Jordan D wrote:
What's wrong with 14? And what happens if you live on the '5th' floor - i.e. the floor that is 4 up from the ground? Surely a step too far?
Still, that's culture for you.
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For ur information, 14 sounds like 'death for sure' xD
14. At 3:53pm on 17 Jul 2008, four_lions wrote:
people of china will need all the 8 s in the world to taste freedom and democracy. or rather than chosing a number that sounds like wealth they should chose a number that sounds like " liberty". I wonder where hides the assertiveness of the chinese who respond to this blog, when it comes to bad policies of chinese govt - like tianmen massacre and so on
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Pal, just give it a break, will u? Really think ordinary chinese have no idea what happened back then? Oh I'm soooo waiting for the next 6/4 to comment about it (if James will write sth on the topic that day).
:D
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In response to #24
You're right, but its not like those who are "pro-china" to put it bluntly are any different when considering a light topic such as this.
Just look at post #2
"Regarding the no 13, now we can see clearily the effort that the Chinese are trying to understand the West and the respect that the Chinese towards the Western culture. However what kind of effort the West hase made to understand the Chinese?"
The hotel/apartment block etc is doing that in order to attract, or at least not scare away any potential customers. The more people that feel comfortable using the building, the more the owners will profit. I find it hard to believe the Chinese do this only as an attempt to "understand and respect" westerners and nothing else.
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Numbers and superstitions associated with them are quite fascinating to me, one thing I think you could have expanded upon was combinations of numbers for more meanings.
For example, I do believe that a number such as 1681314 would be quite a pleasant number to be associated with, as well as 5918.
The 8 as we know means these numbers are involved with prosperity, 168 meaning the road of prosperity or to be prosperous together, 5918 meaning I will soon prosper and 1314 meaning forever.
Of course there are also bad combinations, 250 read in a certain way and also combinations of 1679 can be quite rude in some parts of China.
The main reason I love number superstitions is that I can take advantage of them and get undesirable numbered things for cheaper, I'd have absolutely no problems living on the 13th floor in apartment number 250 on 4th Avenue if I got it for a good price!
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In the cyber world, 8 and 6 have other meanings.
88 is short for byebye
886 is also for byebye, in chinese it sounds like "bai bai lou =)"
just for the similarity in pronouciation.
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Hi James,
Can you pls let me know why there is no English version of "???????BBC??"????" only in the Chinese?
Thanks
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Chinese sounds of fa for wealth for number 8 sounds very primitive belief for me. if it is lucky number look at what happened this year...Beijing Olympic start 8PM 8/8/08
1/25 major snow storm-disaster from the sky
3/14 suppression in Tibet- disaster from human
5/12 Earthquake- a disaster from the ground.
1+2+5=8
3+1+4=8
5+1+2=8
note: 5/12 earthquake is 88 days away from the olympic date of 8/8/08
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Football fans should know that Michael Ballack is a "forever 13" diehard. That is also part of unlucky story?
Apart from how those numbers sound/look like in one's own culture, I think there must also be some decent explainations in numerology and/or metaphysics out there. Otherwise, any half baked Scientology teaching will also do for the Cruise-alike in Hollyland, and footballers of course.
@ 3 crys0000
Interesting that Italian Affair you mentioned. Pope Benedict XVI urged publicly unity agaist terror yearteday - day 17th. Any connection?
Another thought: Wait to see what the next Pope will be called by Italians.
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The number 8 sounds like "prosper" in Cantonese dialect, I was told.
People in that provice/area, including those in Hong Kong, like the number, and wish it brings them good luck.
In Taiwanese, 8 does not sound 'prosper' or anything near it.
On the contrary, my mother told me 7 is "success", 8 is "failure". And, Taiwanese are Han Chinese. 100%.
My point is this, James... There are 50 some ethnic groups in China,
speaking in numerous dialects. Some Chinese eat snakes does not mean all Chinese eat snakes. I don't. You have to put a gun to my head to make me.
It's a huge country, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, but we are one.
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And also
3 (san), sound like "birth" (san) with different intonation. So 13, (sut san) is a very powerful number in the context of fertility.
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James,
That is a lucky number...
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