Follow up:
Eight
The word for "eight" (. Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (發 " short for "發財", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, e.g., Cantonese "baat3" and "faat3".
There is also a visual resemblance between two digits, "88", and 囍, the "shuāng xĭ" ("double joy"), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters - ("xĭ" meaning "joy" or "happiness").
The number 8 is viewed as such an auspicious number that even being assigned a number with several eights is considered very lucky.
In 2003, A telephone number with all digits being eights was sold for CN¥2.33 million (approximately USD$280,000) to Sichuan Airlines in Chengdu, China.[2]
The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm local time (UTC+08).
A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for ¥1.12 million (roughly $164,000).
The Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia each have 88 Floors.
The minivan that GM makes for the Chinese market is called the Buick GL8, but the minivans it sold in other countries didn't have that name.
The Air Canada route from Shanghai to Toronto is Flight AC88.
The KLM route from Hong Kong to Amsterdam is Flight KL888.
The United Airlines route from Beijing to San Francisco is Flight UA888, and the route from Beijing to Newark is Flight UA88.
The Air Astana route from Beijing to Almaty is Flight KC888.
One of Cathay Pacific's flight numbers from Hong Kong to Vancouver and New York is CX888.
Singapore Airlines reserves flight numbers beginning with the number 8 to routes in China and Korea.
In Singapore, a breeder of rare Dragon fish (Asian Arowana) (which are "lucky fish" and being a rare species, are required to be microchipped), makes sure to use numbers with plenty of eights in their microchip tag numbers, and appears to reserve particular numbers especially rich in eights and sixes (e.g., 702088880006688) for particularly valuable specimens.[4][5]
As part of grand opening promotions, a Commerce Bank branch in New York's Chinatown raffled off safety deposit box No. 888.
An "auspicious" numbering system was adopted by the developers of 39 Conduit Road Hong Kong, where the top floor was "88" " Chinese for double fortune. It is already common in Hong Kong for ~4th floors not to exist; there is no requirement by the Buildings Department for numbering other than that it being "made in a logical order."[6] A total of 43 intermediate floor numbers are omitted from 39 Conduit Road: those missing include 14, 24, 34, 54, 64, all floors between 40 and 49; the floor number which follows 68 is 88.[6]
Similar to the common Western practice of using "9" for price points, it is common to see "8" being used in its place to achieve the same psychological effect. So for example menu prices like $58, $88 are frequently seen.
is lucky for Chinese people. (I heard.)
Posted 02/08/2014 3:35 pm
Thank You, matthewvincent, !!
