Eight is enough for China
Photo owned by Daquella manera (cc)
You know what I love about China? The way that superstitions underpines a lot of the cultural quirks that the country of billions share under a mantle of centralised Communist administration. In what seems like a divine strike of luck, superstition suggests that the timing of the Olympics are set to bring fortune to China.
To the Chinese, the number eight is fortuous. All because eight in Mandarin “ba” sounds like “fa” meaning prosper. The Olympics are set to kick off at the eighth minute, past the eighth hour of the evening on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year. That’s a whole family of eights dedicated to bringing fortune and wealth to China during the Games.
The curious thing about the staging of the Olympics at this specific, fortunate date is the fact that only a handful of decades ago, the Communist government would have stamped on any suggestion to hold an Olympic Games on such a date. Superstition is an anathema to the Communist regime. In much the same way as Stalin try to use Russification to culturally homogenise Slavs and Asians under a common Communist flag, the Chinese administration have traditionally tried to stamp a identity of sameness on it’s citizens. Call it pandering to the international community, just like the partial climb-down on Internet freedoms. Too early to point and tag it as a significant event in the defrost of heavy-handed Chinese authoritarianism? Whatever, the selection of the date is interesting.
To finish, some fluffy, outfield Chinese superstitions that I like:
- Don’t cut your fingernails or toenails at night, else a ghost will come and get you
- Moustauches are bad luck
- Don’t use glue during pregnancy, else delivery will be difficult (I’m assuming this isn’t huffing)
- Pee before gambling, it brings good luck
Got any strange superstitions or ticks that you have to adhere to?
I wonder if they’ve commissioned more of those “8″ numberplates like the one you see in the HSBC ad…
I have this weird thing that if I say something and am accidentally interrupted (even by the listener) I see it as a sign I should keep my mouth shut. The number of times I’ve benefited from this little superstition (Freudian dynamic?) is mental and furthermore when I’ve pressed my point that was interrupted its often fallen flat or even caused problems.
Incidentally the gossip in Beijing is that 8 is now unlucky given the earthquake, Tibet, floods and everyone is jittery as hell that the Olympics should go well. The black anti terrorist mob outide Raffells off Tiananmen are WELL tooled up!
@Charles Hehe.. If 8 has indeed become an unlucky portent, then the Games are doomed. Love the way it’s now gossip on the streets of Beijing.
This reminds me of the number 4… when I worked in mobile sales I would always make sure that any Asian customers weren’t given mobile phone numbers with the number 4 in them, it’s an unlucky number in China and Japan (and other countries I think) because it sounds like the word for death.
Fair enough I suppose!
You know Sinead it’s quite common for Westerners to be given a Chinese name for both administrative and etiquette reasons and it’s not unheard of for some people to be given unkind names such as Sweaty White Pig or some such creation. I’m guessing its some sort of ethnic Karma for those unlucky 4’s that you gave out