What's the importance of the number 8 as it pertains to the Chinese?

BlockHead1987

8 is a Fibonacci Number. 8 is a Heptagonal Pyramidal Number. 8 is an Octagonal Number. 8 is a Centered Heptagonal Number. 8 can be Partitioned in 22 ways. The sum of the totient function for the first eight integers is 22. 8 is the largest cube in the Fibonacci Sequence. 8 is the maximal number of regions into which space can be divided by 3 Spheres. The maximal number of regions into which a plane can be divided by 3 circles=8 The Cube is a Platonic Solid with 8 Vertices. The Octahedron is a Platonic Solid with 8 Faces. A Truncated Tetrahedron is an Archimedean Solid with 8 Faces. It has four triangles and four hexagons. The Chemical Element Oxygen has an atomic number of 8. The Eight Trigrams. http://www.virtuescience.com/8.html [Link added -- Zb] Aug 08 08, 5:00 PM

lanfranco

Since the Beijing Olympics have begun, star_gazer may be referring to the significance of "8" in Chinese culture. It is an auspicious number, because the Mandarin word for "8" is similar to the word for "wealth" or "prosper." "88" sounds similar to "double joy." Perhaps I should change my name to "8". Or "88". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture Aug 08 08, 5:15 PM

star_gazer

Yes, the Olympics started 8:08 PM on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jamesreynolds/2008/07/lucky_number.html Aug 08 08, 5:47 PM

dj168

8 in Mandarin is " Ba " or in Cantonese " Bat " And the word for wealth in Mandarin is " Fa " or Cantonese is " Fat ". There are a number of similarities. Also 1, 6 and 8 are lucky numbers in Chinese. Hence my user name. xD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture#Eight Aug 08 08, 7:48 PM