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.