The number "eight" in Chinese is 八 Pinyin: bā and it sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 – short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects, the way it sounds for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar.
Besides, there is also a visual resemblance between two digits, "88", and 囍, the "shuāng xĭ" ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylised characters 喜 ("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.
- A telephone number with all digits being eights was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China
- 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)
So the sound matters, and makes the number ''four'' in Chinese 四 pinyin sì considered to be an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it is nearly homophonous to the word "death" 死 pinyin sǐ. Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the "4": e.g. Nokia cell phones (there is no series beginning with a 4), Palm PDAs, Canon PowerShot G's series (after G3 goes G5), etc.
In East Asia, some buildings do not have a 4th floor. (Compare with the Western practice of some buildings not having a 13th floor because 13 is considered unlucky.) In Hong Kong, some high-rise residential buildings literally miss all floor numbers with "4", e.g. 4, 14, 24, 34 and all 40–49 floors, in addition to not having a 13th floor. As a result, a building whose highest floor is number 50 may actually have only 35 physical floors. Look at this photo, the 4 has been replaced with an A and the preceding floor number.
Photo Credit: Libriel
In Teochew dialect, 4 is pronounced as "see" or "yes". It is seen to be a lucky number because Chinese people like things in pairs (four would equal two pairs). However, the superstitions regarding numbers from Chinese people have been adopted by the other Cantonese people.