Our own position on Chinese taboos is that most published lists pad them out with things nobody observes. That holds. Numbers are the exception, and not because Chinese people are more superstitious about them than about anything else — it is because number preference stopped being a belief a long time ago and turned into an economic fact. Developers price around it, telecoms auction around it, and lift manufacturers build around it.
You do not have to believe any of it. You do have to be able to read a lift panel.
The two that run everything#
| The number | What it does to the world around you |
|---|---|
| Four — 四 (sì), a near-homophone of 死 (sǐ), death | Skipped in floor numbering, avoided in phone numbers, room numbers and licence plates, and never used as a quantity for a gift |
| Eight — 八 (bā), a near-homophone of 发 (fā), to prosper, as in 发财 (fācái) | Sought and paid for: prices ending in 8, phone numbers and plates full of 8s, dates and times chosen around it |
Two more turn up often enough to recognise. Six — 六 (liù) — carries the sense of things going smoothly, and appears in 六六大顺 (liù liù dà shùn), a common good-luck phrase. Nine — 九 (jiǔ) — sounds like 久 (jiǔ), long-lasting, which is why it recurs in imperial architecture and in wedding gifts.
The lift panel, which is the part that affects you#
Chinese property developers routinely avoid the number four in floor numbering, and they do it in one of two ways. Some skip it outright, so the button after 3 is 5, and after 12 is 15. Others relabel it: the fourth floor becomes 3A, the fourteenth 13A, the twenty-fourth 23B.
Here is the part worth internalising: the building has not changed, only the label has. A relabelled 13A is physically the fourteenth floor. A skipped floor means your "18th floor" hotel room may be physically on the sixteenth or fifteenth. That matters for two ordinary reasons — judging how far you actually are from the ground, and matching a room number against a fire-evacuation plan, which is drawn from the physical layout.
Four is the main one but not the only one. Fourteen is avoided more strongly than fourteen's ordinariness would suggest, because 十四 (shí sì) can be heard as 要死 (yào sǐ), "going to die". Eighteen is avoided by association with 十八层地狱 (shíbā céng dìyù), the eighteen levels of hell. And thirteen is often missing too, which is a straight import from Western practice rather than anything Chinese.
None of this is required by law. It is commercial practice, done because it makes flats easier to sell, which is exactly why it is so consistent — and why what you should expect in a Chinese hotel includes a floor count that may not be the real one.
What eight is worth, in money#
The clearest measure of how far this goes is what people pay.
In August 2003, Chengdu Telecom auctioned a hundred selected phone numbers. The one everybody wanted was 8888 8888 — because Chengdu's area code is 028, the full number reads as nine consecutive eights. Bidding opened at ¥88,888, passed half a million within moments, and closed at ¥2.33 million, paid by Sichuan Airlines, which put it to work as its customer service line.
The same instinct chose the most-watched moment in modern Chinese history. The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony began at 20:08:08 on 8 August 2008 — the eighth second of the eighth minute of the eighth hour of the evening, on the eighth day of the eighth month.
Numbers used as words#
Because Mandarin digits are single syllables, they double as shorthand, and it is worth recognising a few when they appear in a shop name, a licence plate or a message.
- 1314 — 一生一世 (yīshēng yīshì), a whole lifetime. Common in wedding contexts and in prices set at ¥1,314.
- 520 — close enough to 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ), I love you.
- 168 — 一路发 (yīlù fā), prospering the whole way. This is why so many hotels, restaurants and prices land on 168.
- 250 — not a compliment. 二百五 (èrbǎi wǔ) means an idiot. Do not use it as a quantity if you can avoid it, and do not be surprised if a shopkeeper adjusts a price of 250 to 249.
How much of this to observe#
Almost none of it, deliberately. Nobody expects a foreign visitor to avoid the number four, and doing so ostentatiously reads as odd rather than considerate. The single exception is the one already covered under gifts, where giving four of anything is a real misstep with an easy fix: give six or eight instead.
The value of knowing the rest is comprehension, not performance. It explains why the lift panel looks wrong, why a price is 188 and not 190, and why a taxi driver might mention his plate number unprompted.
Frequently asked questions#
Why do Chinese buildings have no fourth floor?#
Because 四 (sì), four, is a near-homophone of 死 (sǐ), death, and developers avoid it to make flats easier to sell. Some skip the number so 3 is followed by 5; others relabel the floor as 3A. It is commercial practice rather than law, and the physical building is unaffected — only the button changes.
Is the 13th floor missing in China too?#
Often, yes, though that one is borrowed from Western practice rather than Chinese. Fourteen and eighteen are avoided for Chinese reasons: 十四 can be heard as 要死, "going to die", and eighteen recalls the eighteen levels of hell.
Why is 8 lucky in China?#
八 (bā), eight, sounds close to 发 (fā), to prosper, as in 发财 (fācái), to become wealthy. The preference is strong enough to have real market value — a Chengdu phone number of eight eights sold at auction for ¥2.33 million in 2003, and the Beijing Olympics opened at 20:08:08 on 8 August 2008.
Do I need to worry about lucky numbers as a visitor?#
No. Nobody expects a foreign visitor to observe any of it, and avoiding four ostentatiously looks strange rather than polite. The one case that matters in practice is gifts, where giving four of something should be avoided — give six or eight.
What does 250 mean in Chinese?#
二百五 (èrbǎi wǔ), two hundred and fifty, is an everyday insult meaning an idiot. It is why a price will sometimes be set at 249 or 251 instead, and it is worth not using as a round number when bargaining.
What is a lucky number to give money in?#
Amounts built on eight and six are the usual choices, and amounts containing four are avoided. 1314 turns up at weddings because it stands for 一生一世, a whole lifetime, and 168 is common in everyday pricing because it reads as 一路发, prospering all the way.