日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Lifestyle
Home / Lifestyle / News

Symbols, superstition and playing the numbers game

China Daily | Updated: 2013-07-04 17:05

Symbols, superstition and playing the numbers game

A bouquet of 999 roses displayed at a flower shop attracts a passerby's attention. Wang Jiankang/For China Daily

At the other end of the spectrum is the number four, a homonym for "death". Some Chinese refuse to purchase a cell phone number with the digit, calling it "taboo". Also, many buildings in Hong Kong and the mainland do not designate a fourth floor so that the fifth floor immediately follows the third, as shown on elevator buttons.

Why is Chinese culture so infused with what seems to be numerical superstition? And what has kept these beliefs strong in modern times?

"It's part of the Chinese people's culture to use symbols to represent themselves," says Lee Cheuk-Yin, head of the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore and a specialist in Chinese history and traditional culture. "They like to use symbols, because Chinese culture is more conservative and implicit."

A principle of this symbolism, Lee says, is the use of punning a play on words based on the similar pronunciation of different characters. This also explains, he says, why the Chinese consider fish and bats auspicious animals. "Fish" is a homonym for "abundance" in Mandarin, while "bat" sounds like "good fortune".

Using this principle, the Chinese have also come up with auspicious number combinations. Some of the most popular, according to a paper by Chen Rudong, a professor at Peking University's Department of Communication Studies, are: 168 (which sounds like "to always be rich"), 518 ("I shall be rich") and 666 ("everything will remain well").

These beliefs end up being passed on for generations since people develop an emotional attachment to symbols.

"Encountering a symbol, whether it's a number or a word or a picture, is a bit like encountering the thing itself, leading to a bit of ambiguity in the brain," says Matthew Hutson, author of The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy and Sane.

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日韩精品久久久久久久的张开腿让 | 99久久久精品免费观看国产 | 色女视频 | 国产精品第四页 | 一区二区三区在线视频观看 | 三级精品视频 | 亚洲激情五月 | 91黄色免费看 | 人人爽人人澡 | 国产精品美女一区二区三区 | 91一区二区在线观看 | 黄色片在线播放 | 免费成年人视频 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区久久 | 岛国久久久 | 中文字幕一区二区三区在线观看 | 男人的天堂毛片 | 一区二区在线免费观看 | 岛国av免费观看 | 欧美日韩亚洲天堂 | 毛片999| 国产福利片在线 | 五月婷婷伊人网 | 国产特级黄色片 | 国内特级毛片 | 国产日韩精品一区 | 成人短片 | av视觉盛宴 | 天天操天天弄 | 免费在线观看www | 日本少妇喂奶 | 国产精品99久久久 | 国产精品国产三级国产aⅴ 国产三级福利 | 国产精品揄拍100视频 | 特级黄色网 | jizz国产在线 | 一级黄色片在线播放 | 亚洲精品免费播放 | 亚洲va在线 | 高h文视频| 国产成人精品av |