Today is May 18, 518, Wǒ yào fā! Sounds like an auspicious day to you, doesn’t it? In daily life, we are surrounded by numbers and inevitably deal with them every day in digital world. Numbers are meant to be calculated. They are neither good nor bad. Some numbers can be determined according to personal preferences. With the development of language and culture, people are constantly enriching connotation of numbers to express more ideas, especially 8 in Chinese.
The magic 18 Have you ever noticed some interesting facts about the number 18 (十八 shí bā)?
The average length of a person’s palm is 18 centimeters (厘米 lí mǐ); Human brain normally works for 18 hours (小时 xiǎo shí) a day; The length of volleyball court is 18 meters (米 mǐ); Chinese citizens’ID number consists of 18 digits (位 wèi); In China, 18 year-old (岁 suì) is the legal age of competent civil conduct; the greatest characters in Chinese Buddhism is the Eighteen Arhat (十八罗汉 shí bā luó hàn); The legendary team in Shaolin Temple is Eighteen Bronze Men (十八铜人 shí bā tóng rén);…and it is the 18 dragon-strike palms (降龙十八掌 xiáng lóng shí bā zhǎng) kungfu kicks ass!
In Chinese, number eight 8 pronounces as bā, which sounds like fā, means becoming rich (发财 fā cái). 1 and 8 together pronounce as yāo bā, which sounds like yào fā, means I will become rich. If the number could bring you money, who would not use it to turn the wonderful wish down?
Cultural ConnotationBā is probably the most favored number in China as it is associates with money and luck that can be observed everywhere. It is believed to be originated from Cantonese dialect and soon become popular in other parts of China for we are pursuing economic development and material achievements. But besides fā, the homonymic to “making a fortune”, any other reasons behind?
In Taoism, eight represents entirety. We may find clues in Book of Changes (《易经》yì jīng) that Eight Trigrams (八卦 bā guà) is the foundation generating everything. The eight directions (八方 bā fāng) indicates the whole universe in Taoist spatial conception. These eight directions are used to explain individual destiny by Eight Characters (八字 bā zì), a Chinese fortune telling method that can describe one’s life course through the diagrams of birth date.
Chinese obsession to number 8
The best example that shows how Chinese love 8 is when Beijing held Olympic Games. The opening ceremony commenced accurately at 8:08:08 pm on August 8 in 2008. Not only the whole country wants an auspicious number for this big event, individuals also would like to grasp the good luck for themselves: giving birth to a baby during the time. In the same year of Beijing Olympic Games, there were 170 million newborns, 5 million more than the year before and hit a record. You may guess right, most of the babies were born in the eighth month.
Such complex of using number 8 in Chinese for fā can be found in house number, license plate, mobile numbers and almost everywhere. Chinese may behave superstitous in this regard. However, in the eye of a modern, a good number more serves as a positive psychological hint that offers you a better mood. Why not accept it and make your day happier? At least wǒ yào fā is a lucky day for everyone!
