4 is well known to be an unlucky number because 四 sounds similar to 死 (sǐ), which means "death" in Chinese. People will go to extremes based on superstitions of the number 4. Houses and apartments that have 4 in the address number will sell for much less than ones without. Mentioning the number four to an ill family member is considered to be highly offensive, and giving anything with 4 on it to someone can be seen as a death threat. Because of its negative association with death, most people consider this number to be so unlucky that many buildings in China do not even have a "fourth" floor.
The number 4 is also unlikely to appear on house/door numbers and car license plates. Whenever, possible, many people will also try hard to avoid choosing telephone numbers that contain the number 4. Certain numbers are considered lucky, and others unlucky.
The luckiest number in Chinese culture is eight, as the Chinese for eight sounds like the word for 'lucky'. Four, conversely is a very unlucky number as in Chinese it sounds like the word for death. Thus Chinese adhering to the customs try to avoid the number four in, for example, car number plates, house addresses etc. In China, it is customary to regard even numbers as being more auspicious than odd ones. So, gifts are given in even numbers for the celebration of all occasions. No. 8 has long been regarded as the luckiest number in Chinese culture.
With pronunciation of 'Ba' in Chinese, no. 8 sounds similar to the word 'Fa', which means to make a fortune. It contains meanings of prosperity, success and high social status too, so all business men favor it very much. Moreover, in some areas of China, people prefer to pay much more money for a telephone number with 8 in it. They also favor residences on the eighth floor of buildings. In 1990s, a vehicle identification number with 8 was once auctioned off for 5 million Hong Kong dollars. Is well known to be an unlucky number because 四 sounds similar to 死 (sǐ), which means "death" in Chinese.
Did you know that if you press a Chinese elevator button to go to the 50th floor of a building, you may actually only be going to the 35th floor? This is because many buildings in China not only omit the 13th floor, but are also missing any floor containing the number 4, which is considered to be the unluckiest number in Chinese culture. The Chinese have many superstitions about numbers, often related to similar-sounding words in the Chinese language, which are called homophones.
Ong explains that this Chinese tradition has been adopted by many countries in East Asia where age-old myths and superstitions still play a part in contemporary life. Much like in astrology, your lucky number is not a random selection, but rather determined at birth by an ancient calculation. Us too, and you don't need to be a wizard to figure it out — there's an easy-to-follow formula for that. Even pronunciation matters when it comes to fortuitous numerals in Chinese culture, which is why despite its bum rap here in the U.S., 13 is a real winner in other parts of the world. "Four sounds like death , so four is the bad luck number rather than the number 13," Ong says. "The number 13 means 'assured growth' or 'definitely vibrant' in Chinese. That's why it's actually considered very lucky."
In many East Asian cultures, including China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the number 4 is considered unlucky. If you step onto an elevator, you probably won't see a button indicating the fourth floor because most apartment buildings and hospitals skip the number altogether. In Beijing, it's not even possible to get a vehicle license plate that has the number 4 on it.
And in Singapore, a luxury carmaker had to change the name of the Alfa Romeo model 144 because citizens were scared to buy it. It's the same reason Nokia phone models don't start with the number 4. Certain numbers in China are considered bad luck or have negative connotations.
The number "four" is very unlucky and one word to avoid. This is because the Chinese word for "four" sounds like the Chinese word for "death". 6 sounds like the Chinese word "liu" which means "flowing, smooth, or frictionless". As such, 6 implies that "everything will go smoothly" and is considered lucky especially if it comes in multiples. Thus, it is particularly appealing to business owners, who are willing to pay extra to occupy buildings at addresses containing the number 6.
The pronunciation of the number four in Japanese is very similar to the word death, and because of this, four has been considered bad luck in Japan, Korea and China. It is considered very bad luck to give a gift that is made up of four pieces to someone. Many buildings in heavily Asian areas do not have a fourth floor, much like the way North American cultures treat the number 13. Like 5, 7 has both positive and negative connotations in Chinese culture. For the positive side, 七 sounds like both 起 (qǐ), which means "start" or "rise", and also 气 (qì), which means "vital energy". Seven is also seen as a lucky number for relationships.
The Qixi Festival (七夕節), also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on the 7th day of the 7th month in the lunar calendar. The 7th month is also known as the "ghost month" in China, where ghosts and spirits are believed to rise from hell to visit earth. While ghosts may be seen as omens, the ghost festival in the 7th month is widely celebrated. 7 may also be considered unlucky because 七 sounds like 欺 , meaning "cheat".
6 (六), pronounced liu, is considered lucky as it sounds like the word that means 'to flow', and can indicate smooth progress in life. Similar to 8, 6 is preferred in number plates and phone numbers. When a couple gets engaged, the man customarily offers a gift to the girl's family which is usually money and this gift signifies a harmonious life for the couple.
Numbers definitely play a huge part in the Chinese way of life. Even wedding days are fixed based on lucky month and lucky days. 7 is generally considered a symbol of bad luck and is the month of the ghost festival.
Of course, no sane Chinese person will consider any day in the 7th month for a wedding date. The study of Chinese culture is very interesting because they have so much superstitions and beliefs like numerology, using the laws of heaven and earth -- "feng shui", choice of color etc. One of their main Chinese belief is that numbers contribute a lot to their good luck and their happiness in life.
Their belief pertaining to a particular number and the luck it may bring affect their behavior and choices in life . Chinese beliefs and culture revolves around getting good vibes or good luck and the pursuit of happiness and long life. In this article, we are going to look at lucky and unlucky numbers in Chinese culture, and the certain meaning of a particular number.
Four is the unluckiest number in Chinese numerology. The romanisation of the number is 'si', which sounds scarily similar to the word 'si', meaning 'death'. As such, the number should be avoided at any cost.
The number is considered inauspicious in Japan and Korea as well, where the words 'four' and 'death' remain homophonous. In China, numerology is more than just a superstition, it's a lifestyle. 'Eight,' for example, is considered a lucky number, so lucky, in fact, that people will splash millions to have a string of eights on their license plates or in their phone numbers. Culture Trip explores which numbers are good and which are bad and what that might mean for you. 6 is pronounced "liu" in Mandarin Chinese, and this sounds like the Mandarin Chinese word meaning "flowing, smooth, or frictionless". Therefore, the number 6 has the meaning of "everything will go smoothly" and is considered lucky especially where it occurs in multiples.
In feng shui, the number 6 represents authority and power. 3 (三), pronounced san, is considered lucky due to its similarity in sound to the word that means birth. Additionally, this number represents the three stages in the life of humans - birth, marriage, death - that adds to its importance in Chinese culture. Chinese' fondness for 8 can be seen in many other cases, such as house numbers, phone numbers, number plates, wedding dates, the date for opening a business, and so on. 8 is considered lucky and favored by Chinese because it holds meaning in both traditional and modern cultures.
In China, lucky numbers have pronunciations that are similar to words with lucky meanings. Number 8 holds huge significance as a lucky number. To a lesser extent 2, 6, and 9 are considered lucky. As well as these general number superstitions, fengshui and the Chinese zodiac dictate different number luck for different places/people. In Chinese culture, people believe that lucky numbers can bring them good luck and fortune.
So, it is important for Chinese people to choose a good number for important items, such as wedding dates, dates of moving into a new house, numbers of car license plates, telephone numbers, and so on. Asians also go by Chinese or Indian astrology and numerology. For the Chinese, even numbers are considered lucky, since it is believed that good luck comes in pairs. But 4 is unlucky , whereas 8 stands for sudden fortune and prosperity (remember the Olympic Games in Beijing started on Aug. 8, 2008 at 8 min past 8). And this can snowball up to three times prosperity, means 'wealthy, wealthy, wealthy!
Before looking at each number and its Bagua meaning, let's review some numerology basics. First, there are many different numerology traditions. With each school of approach, the meanings and interpretations of numbers may vary considerably. Sometimes, there are feng shui practitioners with expertise in numerology as a separate modality who layer those methods into their practice.
If you're curious about using Bagua numbers to learn about your house number, consider using the common practice of reduction. With this practice, you simply reduce your house and/or apartment number to a single digit. Others believe it is because of the tie-in with 13 and the lunar cycle.
13 is the exact number of full moons in a calendar year, and since people have thought that the moon controls emotion and makes people a bit crazy, then 13 is bad luck. In many Persian cultures, 13 is unlucky as well, showing that this superstition crosses cultural borders. And of course, Friday the 13th is considered very bad luck.
Often, numbers that are visible in the background of an image might be innocent in one country but provoke fear in another. For example, a photo of a soccer player with a big number 17 on his jersey might look fine to audiences in most parts of the world, but in Italy this number is considered very unlucky. In fact, at the winter Olympics in Turin, the 17th curve on the bobsled track was referred to as "Senza Nome" instead of referring to it with the unlucky number 17. Also, make sure to check the number of people or items you are displaying in a given picture — the number can be viewed as unlucky in some markets.
Why Is 7 A Lucky Number In China For some Vietnamese, it's considered bad luck to have 3 people in photos. Number 14 is considered to be the worst number among all the unlucky numbers. The '1' in the number 14 does not represent loneliness; instead it means 'guaranteed'. Therefore, the number would interpret 'guaranteed death'. For the different meanings emerging from different regions of China, the number 14 is considered neutral by a few.
This number is a dreaded number in Chinese superstition and a very unlucky number. This is because it is almost homophonous with the Chinese word 'si' which means 'death'. Therefore, numbered items in China such as phone numbers, car license numbers and room numbers omit number 4 in them. Similarly numbered products from China omit number 4 in them e.g. The number 3 is an unlucky number in relationships. In Mandarin, the number 3 can sound like the word "apart," so it's bad luck if it involves weddings or romance in general.
However, apart from situations regarding relationships, the 3 is considered neutral or even positive. In fact, the Chinese are so superstitious about numbers, that they will often spend big money for "lucky numbers" in their life. A man in Hangzhou listed his license plate, A8888, for $140,000 online. In Chinese culture, fourth floor is usually omitted from most elevator fixtures in a Chinese building, this is because the number means "death (死)". It was considered that the number 4 in Putunghua means "sì" while death is "sǐ" and Cantonese means "sei3" while death is "sei2".
Some buildings in Asia skipped the fourth floor either by numbering it as "5" or by designating the floor as "3A" or something similar. In some buildings in South Korea, fourth floor is labelled "F" instead of 4 in elevators. The practice of avoiding instances of number 4 is called Tetraphobia.
The number Eight in Chinese sounds like "prosperity" or "wealth", so it is considered a lucky number. Large sums have been paid to obtain combinations with this number in license plates and mobiles. In fact many numbers symbolize something good or bad. Product numbers, telephones numbers and license plates sometimes are created with specific numbers to bring good luck. 13 – The hysteria surrounding unlucky 13 in Western culture has become so commonplace that an actual sickness called triskaidekaphobia; the fear of the number 13.
You would be hard pressed to find a building with a 13th floor in North America. The origin of this superstition is mainly unknown. In the famous painting of Jesus at the Last Supper, the 13th person at the table, reading left to right, was Judas, who betrayed Jesus. Chinese dwell in superstitions and beliefs and have a huge dependence on numbers in their day to day lives. They lay great emphasis on the use of numbers which, according to their culture, may be considered lucky or unlucky.
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