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Opportunities abound in love of homonyms
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IT was a challenging evening to find a taxi. Apart from the persistent drizzle, the date was 5-20 (May 20), or wu er ling.
As I found out the following morning, most taxis had been booked by amorous couples celebrating a new kind of Valentine’s Day popularized through the texting of the number 520 —a near homonym for “I love you” in Chinese.
It was a remarkable modern-day, cyber-chat enabled event, cashing in on the traditional Chinese penchant for ascribing numbers mythical power.
One of the early warnings I received as part of my cultural orientation after arriving in China more than a decade ago was to never gift anyone a clock, because when spoken, the words song zhong sounded like “sending someone off to their death.”
As I learned my numbers, it became clear why buildings lacked a fourth or 14th floor. On the other hand, the number eight is endowed with such monumental luck that the owner of the A8888 number plate in Hangzhou was reputed to have sold it online for 888,888 yuan (US$135,500).
Then there’s the number six, liu, which is considered to be a very auspicious number because it is a homonym of the words “flowing” or “smooth.”
How about qi or 7? I have seen on the streets of Shanghai an Aston Martin with the number plate 007, for which I’m sure the owner paid a handsome amount. It sped past me too quickly, not allowing me to peek in and check if it was being driven by a secret agent.
The business opportunities in playing with numbers has been stupendous. Maybe that’s why the myths and tales were invented in the first place! When Jack Ma chose 11.11 — popularly known as Single’s Day — as a day when China’s lonely singles could splurge on themselves, he may even have underestimated the power of numerology. Single’s Day is now quite undeniably one of the largest single shopping days in the world.
And now, get ready to raise a toast to the next number: 9, jiu. 9.9 was announced as the Wine Day on Taobao. Perhaps it’s time to put a premium on 1989, 1999 and 2009 vintages; and you can surely expect that copious amounts of jiu (wine) will be bought and drunk.
That will be another great day for the taxi drivers across China, I’m sure.
Kunal Sinha has over 25 years of commenting on consumer and cultural trends. Based in Shanghai for nearly a decade, he is the author of two books about creativity in business: China’s Creative Imperative, and Raw Pervasive Creativity in Asia, and has taught at some of the world’s leading business schools.
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