8．Auspicious Culture (Part Two)

Apart from meaning quantities, numbers also have their auspicious meaning in Chinese culture. The cultural meaning of numbers plays an important role in the history. For example, it is said that there are 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City. “Nine”always means permanence. The most popular auspicious numbers are“six”and“eight, ”which means good luck and fortune. If our telephone number, license plate number or room number contain these numbers, we would feel very lucky. And lots of people even pay a large amount of money to buy a phone number or license plate number containing“six”and“eight.”

Well-written Chinese characters can act as decorations, especially those auspicious characters. Characters meaning“fortune, ”“wealth, ”“longevity”and“happiness”are the most popular ones. People express their good wishes by decorating lots of things with multiple designs of these characters.