Because of the supposed auspiciousness of certain numbers, some 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.
Lucky numbers are based on Chinese words that sound similar to other Chinese words. The numbers 6,8, and 9 are believed to have auspicious meanings because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings.
Lucky numbers
Two
The number 2 (二 or 两,Pinyin: èr or liăng) is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying: "good things come in pairs". It is common to use double symbols in product brandnames, such as double happiness, double coin and double elephants. In Cantonese, two (jyutping: yi) is a homophone of the character for "easy" (易).
Three
The number 3 (三, Pinyin: sān, jyutping: saam<sup>1</sup>) sounds similar to the character for "birth" (生, Pinyin: shēng, jyutping: saang<sup>1</sup>), and is thus considered a lucky number.
Five
The number 5 (五,Pinyin: wŭ) is associated with the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth and metal) in Chinese philosophy, and in turn was historically associated with the Emperor of China. For example, the Tiananmen gate, being the main thoroughfare to the Forbidden City, has five arches. It is also referred to as the pronounciation of "I", as the pronunciations of "I" (我, <a title="Pinyin" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin"><font color="#0645ad">Pinyin</font></a>: wŏ) and 5 are similar in Mandarin.
Six
The number 6 (六,Pinyin: liù) in Mandarin is pronounced the same as "leew" (澑, Pinyin: liù) and similar to "fluid" (流, Pinyin: liú) and is therefore considered good for business. The number 6 also represents happiness. In Cantonese, this number is a homophone for blessings (祿 Lok). In I-Ching, the number 6 stands for "yin".
Seven
The number 7(七, Pinyin: qī) symbolizes "togetherness". It is a lucky number for relationships. It is also recognized as the luckiest number in the West, and is one of the rare numbers that is great in both Chinese and many Western cultures. It is a lucky number in Chinese culture, because it sounds alike to the Chinese character 起 (Pinyin: qǐ) meaning arise.
Eight
The word for "eight" (八 Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 – short for "发财",Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, e.g. Cantonese "baat<sup>3</sup>" and "faat<sup>3</sup>".
There is also a visual resemblance between two digits, "88", and 囍, the "shuāngxǐ" ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized 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.
<ul> <li>A tekeogibe number with all digits being eights was sold for USD $270,723 in Chengdu, China.</li> <li>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).</li> <li>A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for RMB 1.12 million (roughly USD164,000).</li> <li>The Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia each have 88 Floors.</li> <li>The KLM route from Hong Kong to Amsterdam is Flight KL888</li> <li>The United Airlines route from San Francisco to Beijing is Flight 888.</li> <li>Dragon Fish Industry in Singapore, a breeder of rare Asian Arowanas (which are "lucky fish" themselves, and, being a rare species, are required to be microchipped), makes sure to use numbers with plenty of eights in their microchip tag numbers, and appears to reserve particular numbers especially rich in eights and sixes (e.g. 702088880006688) for particularly valuable specimens.</li> <li>The value of eight could also be linked with Buddhism and the meaning of Lotus flower (eight petals).</li> <li>As part of grand opening promotions, a Commerce Bank branch in New York's Chinatown raffled off safety deposit box No. 888.</li> <li>An "auspicious" numbering system was adopted by the developers of 39 Conduit Road Hong Kong, where the top floor was "88" – Chinese for double fortune. It is already common in Hong Kong for ~4th floors not to exist; there is no requirement by the Buildings Department for numbering other than that it being "made in a logical order." A total of 43 intermediate floor numbers are omitted from 39 Conduit Road: those missing include 14, 24, 34, 64, all floors between 40 and 49; the floor number which follows 68 is 88.</li> </ul>Nine
The number 9 (九,Pinyin: jiŭ, jyutping: gau<sup>2</sup>), being the greatest of single-digit numbers, was historically associated with the Emperor of China; the Emperor's robes often had nine dragons, and Chinese mythology held that the dragon has nine children.
Moreover, the number 9 is a homophone of the word for "longlasting" (久), and as such is often used in weddings.
Unlucky Numbers
Four
Number 4 (四; accounting 肆;Pinyin: sì) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it is nearly homophonous to the word "death" (死 Pinyin<font color="#0645ad">:</font> sǐ). Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the "4": e.g. Nokia cell phones (there is no series beginning with a 4),<sup><font color="#0645ad"> </font></sup> Palm,<sup> </sup>PDAs, Canon PowerSho 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.
Number 14 is considered to be one of the unluckiest numbers. Although 14 is usually said in Mandarin as 十四 "shí sì," which sounds like 十死 "ten die", it can also be said as 一四 "yī sì" or 么四 "yāo sì", literally "one four". Thus, 14 can also be said as "yāo sì," literally "one four," but it also sounds like "want to die" (要死 Pinyin: yào sǐ). In Cantonese, 14 sounds like "sap<sup>6</sup> sei<sup>3</sup>", which sounds like "sat6 sei2" meaning "certainly die" (實死). Not all Chinese people consider it to be an unlucky number as the pronunciation differs among the various dialects. In Chiu Chow, 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.
Five
Although five (五, pinyin: wǔ, jyutping: ng<sup>5</sup>) can represent "me" (吾,Pinyin : wú) in Mandarin, it is usually associated with "not" (Mandarin 无/無, Pinyin wú, and Cantonese 唔 m<sup>4</sup>). If used for the negative connotation it can become good by using it with a negative. 54 means "not die" or "no death". If used for the positive it can be used as a possessive. 528 is a way of saying "no easy fortune for me". 53 ("ng<sup>5</sup> saam<sup>1</sup>" in Cantonese) sounds like "m<sup>4</sup> sang<sup>1</sup> （唔生）" – "not live".
Six
Six in Cantonese which has a similar pronunciation to that of "lok6" (落, meaning "to drop, fall, or decline") may form unlucky combinations.
Seven
Seven is considered spiritist or ghostly. The seventh month of the Chinese calendar is also called the "Ghost Month". See Ghost Festival for more detail. During July , the gates of hell are said to be open so ghosts and spirits are permitted to visit the living realm. However, the Chinese lunar calendar also has July 7 as Chinese Valentine's Day (qi xi), so the number 7 is not generally associated with bad luck. In most of the regions in China number 7 remains neutral or associated with luck.
Resource: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture</a>;
