QUESTION:
The Chinese, being among the earliest mathematicians
in the world, have held a long fascination
with things numerical. Add to this is the
tonal nature of the Chinese languages, and
you end up with numbers that take on their
own meanings and stories. What number is considered
"lucky" to the most Chinese?
ANSWERS:
Seven - Qi
This sounds like the words for 'wife'
or 'angry' and is therefore probably not all
that lucky for most Chinese - especially the
male population!
Four - Si
This is a homonym for 'dead'. Most
Chinese will go to great lengths to avoid
the number four in their phone number or car
number plate. Many tall buildings don't even
have a 4th or 14th floor!
Three
- San
'Class dismissed' or 'umbrella'.
Neither of these homonyms is really terrible
but not exactly lucky either.
Eight
- Ba
That's
it! It's really from the southern Chinese
dialects (Cantonese and Fujianese) and it's
because in Chinese the word for 8 "ba" is
a homonym for "prosperity". A Chinese man
in New York recently paid a record amount
for a phone number with six 'eights'. And
the Beijing Olympics will be in 2008!
Good Luck!
