The number 8 is the luckiest number in China.  So the first day of the Beijing Olympics is starting on the most fortuitous Friday ever.

In Chinese culture, certain numbers are believed by some to be auspicious (吉利) or inauspicious (不利) based on the Chinese word that the number name sounds similar to.

Here is a little background to the Chinese belief of the lucky number 8, according to Wikipedia:

The word for ‘eight’  in Mandarin (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means “prosper” or ‘wealth’. In regional dialects the words for ‘eight’ and ‘fortune’ are also similar, eg Cantonese “baat” and “faat”.

There is also a resemblance between two digits, “88″, and the shuang xi (‘double joy’), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 (xi, ‘joy’, ‘happiness’).

In fact, people will often choose, attempt to obtain, or pay large sums for numbers that are considered to be lucky for their phone numbers, street addresses, residence floor (in a multi-story building), driver’s license number, vehicle license plate number, bank account number, etc.  For example, the  telephone number 8888-8888 was sold for USD $270,723 in Chengdu, China.

Oh by the way, the unlucky number in China is 4.

So I hope the number 8 will be lucky at least for all the US Olympians.  I do hope that USA makes a good show in Beijing!  Good Luck USA!

The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8:08:08pm.

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