 |
|
 |
 |
|
Two
The number 2 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 brand names e.g. double happiness, double coin, double elephants etc. Cantonese people like the number two because it sounds the same as the word "easy" in Cantonese.
Four
Number 4 is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it sounds like the word "death. In Cantonese, 4 sounds like the word Say which means "to die". 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. Similarly, buildings serving in American often do not have 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.
Six
The number 6, pronounced "Liu", sounds like the word for "slippery" which can mean "everything goes smoothly".
Eight
The number 8 in Mandarin is pronounced "Ba" and sounds similar to the Cantonese word Fa which means "fortune", "prosper" or "wealth"
The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m.
A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for 1.12 million yuan
Nine
The number 9, pronounced Jiu, sounds like the word for "long-lasting"