The number 8 is probably the most favored number in modern China with its association with wealth and luck. Chinese’ fondness for this number can be observed both in trivial matters and in big moments.
In Taoist culture, 8 is associated with wholeness and completeness. According to I Ching (易经), the bagua (八卦), or the eight trigrams, are the foundation that generates everything.
在道教文化中,“8”和整体性、完整性相关。按照《易经》的说法,“八卦”是世间万物诞生的基础。
The Eight Directions (Bafang 八方) represent the whole universe in Taoist spatial conception. These eight directions are also used to explain individual destiny, as in Bazi (八字), a Chinese fortune-telling method that depicts one’s life course according to the trigram of one’s date of birth.
In modern China, ’8’ is allotted a new association with wealth. ’Eight’ in Chinese sounds similar to fa, meaning "well-off" or "getting rich in a short time". Thus 8 is considered a number that invites great wealth.
Associating ’8’ with money is believed to originate in Cantonese culture, especially Hong Kong culture, and soon became popular in other parts of China, as the country and its people are pursuing economic development, and its associated material benefits.
Maybe the best example that shows how Chinese are obsessed with lucky number 8 is the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
也许显示出中国人如何痴迷于幸运数字“8”的最好例子是2008年北京奥运会。
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games commenced exactly at 8 minutes and 8 seconds past 8 pm on the 8th August, the 8th month of the 8th year of the 21st century.
2008年8月8日晚8点8分8秒北京奥运会开幕式准时开始。
Birth Dates
四、生日。
It is not only the state that wants an auspicious number for its important events; individuals also want to catch it for their babies. In 2008, there were 170 million new-borns, 5 million more than 2007, making a record since early 1990s. Most of the babies were born around August (the 8th month). Many hope that the luck of number 8 will bring fortune to their babies’ lives.
Chinese’ fondness for 8 can be observed even in small things such as number plates. In 2014, two number plates with "8888" in them were sold for 12 million and 17.2 million separately in Zhengzhou and Shenzhen, an amazingly high price for a piece of metal.