Which numbers are lucky ones in China?
  • heimaodian March 22
    Today, let's talk something about numbers. In Chinese daily life nowadays, which numbers would be considered as typical lucky numbers or unlucky numbers?

    For these typical numbers below, which ones are Lucky numbers or not in China?

    A) 2
    B) 4
    C) 6
    D) 7
    E) 8
    F) 9

    Which number do you like best? Which numbers are considered as lucky numbers and unlucky ones in your country?

    Let's reveal the answers later!
     
     
  • Grace_R March 23
    B) 4 is definitely not lucky.  I stayed in a hotel once and it didn't even have a 4th floor.  E) 8 is lucky.  There might be more, but these are the only numbers I know about.  Some people here in the Western countries think 13 is an unlucky number.
  • ode March 25
    F) 9 is number I like best D)7is lucky number E)8 is not lucky number
  • heimaodian March 28
    Hello, so glad to see you joined in the discussion and said your answers!  

    Great, Grace!  4 is an unlucky number nowadays in China. The reason is the pronuncition of the number is sì, which is quite similar with the one of the Chinese character 死（sǐ, to die). It seems very ridiculous,but it is the fact in China. As you said, Grace, there's no 4th floor, even no 14th, 24th, 34th floors, etc. When people want to move into a new apartment, most of time they never want to move on the 4th floor, or 14 the floor, because they believe the numbers mean they will be dying. What do you think about this?

    However, 8 is a lucky number definitely in China. It is because the 8 (八， bā ）sounds similar to the word 发（fā ).  This Chinese character is often paired with 发财（fā cái, to get rich）  and 发达（fā dá, to be successful or prosperous） Thus, you may see a great number of Chinese people want to obtain a cell phone number which contains number "8" as many as possible!

    In addition, number 2, 6, 7 and 9 are luck numbers as well.  There is a famous Chinese sentence: good things come in pairs. 6 usually means something would go smoothly. 7 is one of the rare numbers which is considered as a lucky one both in China and some western countries.  9 is the biggest number among all the ten numbers(from 0 to 9). It was associated with Emperor of China;also, the pronunciation of it is the same with the character 久 （jiǔ）, which means quite a long time and is often used to bless new-married couples in Chinese weddings. 

    Yes, 13 is also considered as an unlucky number, so that is why sometimes you can't see a 13th floor in several buildings of China. 


  • Grace_R March 29
    On the one hand, I think it is kind of silly because we are all technically....aging.  And the floors are still the 4th, 14th, etc even though they are not called as such.  But on the other hand, the pronunciations of the words are so close that it can feel weird. 
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