Numbers in Chinese culture
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Numbers in Chinese culture play a significant role based on the belief that certain numbers are lucky or unlucky. In Chinese culture, the luck of numbers is based on the Chinese word that the number name sounds similar to.
Because of the auspiciousness of certain numbers, people will often pay large sums for them. People try to get lucky numbers or lucky number combinations in their phone numbers, street addresses, residence floor (in a multi-storey building), driver's license number, license plate number, bank account number, etc.
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[edit] Number definitions
1 - 一
2 - 二 easy
3 - 三 live
4 - 四 - considered unlucky since 4 in Chinese (sì} sounds like the Chinese word for death (死).
5 - 五 - the self, me, myself, nothing
6 - 六 - easy and smooth
7 - 七 - together
8 - 八 - sudden fortune, prosperity
9 - 九 - long in time
[edit] Lucky numbers
Lucky numbers are based on Chinese words that sound similar to other Chinese words. The numbers 6, 8, and 9 have auspicious meaning because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings.
[edit] Two
The number 2 (二, èr) is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying "good things come in pairs". It is common to use double symbols in product brandnames, e.g. double happiness, double coin, double elephants etc. Cantonese people like the number two because it sounds the same as the word "easy" (易) in Cantonese.
[edit] Six
The number 6, pronounced "Liu", sounds like the word for "slippery" which can mean "everything goes smoothly".
The number 666 is considered one of the luckiest numbers. It can be seen prominently in many shop windows across the country, and people there often pay extra to get a mobile phone number including this string of digits.
License plate number AW6666 was bought for 272,000 yuan (US$34,000) in an auction by an anonymous bidder on behalf of a motorcycle dealership in Zengcheng, Guangzhou.[1]
[edit] Eight
The number 8 in Mandarin is pronounced "Ba" and sounds similar to the Cantonese word Fa which means "fortune", "prosper" or "wealth" (發 Pinyin: fā).
Telephone number 8888-8888 was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China.
The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m.[2]
A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for 1.12 million yuan.[2]
[edit] Nine
The number 9, pronounced Jiu, sounds like the word for "longlasting" (久 pinyin jiǔ).
[edit] Combinations
54 - in cantonese: 'ng sei' sounds like 'm sei' - not die
168 - road of prosperity or to be prosperous together - many charged telephone service numbers in China begin with this number. Many businesses also prefer to have this number as part of their names.
518 - I will prosper, other variations include: 5189 (I will prosper for a long time), 516289 (I will get on a long, smooth prosperous road) and 5918 (I will soon prosper).
666 - In Chinese culture, 666 sounds a lot like the words 'Things going smoothly'. It is considered one of the luckiest numbers in Chinese culture. It can be seen prominently in many shop windows across the country, and people there often pay extra to get a mobile phone number including this string of digits.
888 - prosperity x3.
[edit] Unlucky numbers
[edit] Four
Number 4 (四, formal writing: 肆, pinyin si4) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it sounds like the word "death" (死 pinyin si3). Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the "4": e.g. Nokia cell phones (there is no series beginning with a 4), Palm PDAs, the Leisure Suit Larry games, etc. Some buildings skip the 4th floor, particularly in heavily Asian areas. (Compare with the American practice of some buildings not having a 13th floor because 13 is considered unlucky.) In Hong Kong, some high-rise residential buildings skip ALL numbers with "4", e.g. 4, 14, 24, 34 and all 40-49 floors. As a result, a building claiming to have 50 floors may actually have 36.
Number 14 is considered to be one of the unluckiest numbers in Chinese culture. Although 14 is usually said as "shi si," which sounds like "ten die", it can also be said as "yi si" or "yao si", literally "one four". Thus, 14 can also be said as "yao si," literally "one four," but it also means "want to die" (要死 pinyin yao4 si3). In Cantonese, "fourteen" sounds "sap6 sei3", which sounds like "sat6 sei2" meaning "certainly die" (實死).
53 - in cantonese (ng sam) sounds "like m sam" - not live
[edit] References
- ^ Craving lucky numbers in daily life source: China Daily
- ^ a b "Numbers game in China" by Jim Yardley, The New York Times, published July 4, 2006
