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  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Today we're going to talk about numbers in

  • China and what sort of other meanings it might be

  • associated with.

  • I believe the most famous one would be number 8.

  • It's serious stuff, because people are willing to pay a

  • fortune to get as many 8 on their registration numbers for

  • their cars, on their phone numbers, work out how to have

  • a child on the right date and in the right

  • month with number 8.

  • This is number 8 in Arabic numeral.

  • And in Chinese, it is just that.

  • BRADY: Oh, that's pretty simple.

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: That's pretty simple.

  • That's the simplest one, probably.

  • People love it.

  • Everybody wants to be able to write it, so

  • they keep it simple.

  • Number 8 is pronounced as "ba" in China.

  • The pronunciation is very similar to that of "fa," which

  • means getting wealthy.

  • Like, this is "fa." This is "ba." This is "fa."

  • For example--

  • [SPEAKING MANDARIN]

  • --means, wish you become really wealthy.

  • So they're making loads of money.

  • Doesn't matter if you become a fat cat.

  • So to encode, to symbolize their wish to get wealthy,

  • just in a very simple manner, like on their registration

  • numbers for the car and their phone numbers.

  • So they just love to use the number eight.

  • And I have the tendency-- if I look at a car in the street

  • and pay attention to the registration number, if

  • there's one with particularly a lot more number 8's than

  • normal cars, I would tend to look at the driver.

  • And 9 out of the 10 times, it would be

  • an Asian-faced person.

  • Or Asian person.

  • Asian-looking person.

  • Sometimes if you want to book a particular table in a really

  • posh, expensive restaurant--

  • like I want table 8.

  • Or when somebody gets engaged, the bride-to-be's family would

  • expect number 8 is involved in a certain way.

  • If it is not, they will get upset.

  • People are very much hooked up on it.

  • Chinese people, you know, historically, the average

  • people have struggled a lot over thousands of years,

  • because there's almost a straight transition from a

  • feudal society to a Communist society, where always a large

  • number of population and limited resources.

  • Everybody wants to become wealthy, important, have a new

  • life, have a better life.

  • Therefore, this number 8 kind of symbolizes every--

  • or if not every, most Chinese people's dream to have a good

  • life, to have good luck, to have quite a few money in

  • their pocket.

  • BRADY: You live in England at the moment.

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Yeah.

  • BRADY: Do you still have a funny thing about number 8, or

  • have you been shaken out of it?

  • Or do you still find 8 special?

  • Is it ingrained in you?

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: I--

  • I'm normally not that much fussed by it.

  • But when I go buy a lottery, I sort of would prefer number 8

  • on it, either 8 or 18, 28, or 38.

  • As long as there's an 8 on it.

  • BRADY: Is the number 88 considered especially lucky?

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Oh, yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • 88, 888, 8,888.

  • If a bride-to-be at an engagement party received

  • 8,888 yuan from the groom-to-be, that's very

  • pleasant and expected very much.

  • We also have another special number which is associated

  • with good luck and associated with "things will happen

  • smoothly." It's number 6.

  • This is 6 in Chinese character.

  • And we also have traditional Chinese characters which

  • indicate 6, which is normally used in very formal occasions,

  • like on a check or on a property

  • title deed, which is--

  • BRADY: So that's a more formal number 6.

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • Number 6, its pronunciation is liu, which is very similar to

  • another Chinese character indicating good luck, which is

  • [SPEAKING MANDARIN].

  • 6 is liu, and good luck, things happen smoothly is liu.

  • BRADY: That's the same!

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Yeah, that's the same.

  • Just the tone is different.

  • Normally, people like number 6 to be involved before they go

  • on a journey, before they take a flight.

  • They hope everything would go smoothly when

  • they go on a cruise.

  • So 6, liu, really means something--

  • everything will happen or turn out to be fine, so there's no

  • unpleasant surprise involved.

  • While 8, number 8, fa, is specifically associated with

  • getting wealthy.

  • BRADY: You've told me that people in China prefer the

  • number 8 to the number 6.

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Yeah.

  • BRADY: Does that mean they would rather

  • be rich than lucky?

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: [LAUGHS], looks like money is the first

  • priority of people's concern in China, certainly.

  • BRADY: Do people in China realize that

  • 666 is a bad number?

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: No.

  • In China, that's a very lucky number.

  • BRADY: OK.

  • But they do know that Westerners don't like it.

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: No, they're not aware of that.

  • It's a very Western thing about triple 6.

  • Yeah.

  • There is a number which could be disliked by lot of people.

  • It's number 4.

  • Why is that?

  • It's also because of the pronunciation.

  • Number 4, in Chinese, is pronounced as si.

  • Another Chinese word, which means death, is

  • pronounced as si.

  • So the pronunciation is exactly the same,

  • apart from the tone.

  • A simple Chinese character for 4 and the traditional Chinese

  • character for 4, which is used in formal

  • occasions like title deed.

  • BRADY: What does that mean?

  • Does that mean people just avoid--

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Oh, yeah.

  • BRADY: You can't avoid the number 4.

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Well, you try to avoid as much as possible.

  • People would pay for number 8 or 6.

  • Nobody would want to pay for number 4.

  • And they try to avoid it as much as they possibly can.

  • There's an anecdote here.

  • I have an acquaintance who's got six 4's in his phone

  • number, and he was trying to phone up for Chinese delivery.

  • And the lady, the Chinese lady on the other side of the phone

  • would not take his number down.

  • The lady took the first number 4.

  • It was all right, 4.

  • When it's come to the second one, the lady's

  • voice started to shake.

  • When it comes to the third one, the lady asked, how many

  • other 4's you have?

  • He said, another three.

  • She said, I'm not going to take your order.

  • I'm sorry.

  • It's just so unlucky in Chinese culture.

  • BRADY: That was in the UK, wasn't that?

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: That's in the UK.

  • That's actually Nottingham.

  • BRADY: So if someone in China had a whole bunch of 4's in

  • their phone number, would they get rid of that phone number?

  • XIAOHUI YUAN: Oh, yeah.

  • They would definitely try if they can.

  • Yeah.

  • They would complain to the phone shop and swap to another

  • number, yeah.

  • BRADY: The r, the [INAUDIBLE], is 200.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: And this number is called a googolplex.

  • BRADY: OK, [INAUDIBLE]

  • is 6.

XIAOHUI YUAN: Today we're going to talk about numbers in

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中國幸運數字 - 數字愛好者 (Chinese Lucky Numbers - Numberphile)

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    阿多賓 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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