Lucky #888 — My Tour of Designing Luck in China, Japan, and Korea

For episode 888, Tim frames the central question as whether luck can be designed into phone numbers, buildings, brands, and license plates. In Mandarin, eight is bā, which resembles fā in words connected with prosperity, including fācái in the New Year greeting gōngxǐ fācái—“congratulations, may you prosper.” The resemblance is even closer in Cantonese. Tim says the association was especially amplified in 1980s Hong Kong, and jokes that, despite idealized contrasts between East and West, “everybody loves money.” Repeated eights therefore function as linguistic compound interest.

Tim gives several examples of luck becoming a market premium. In 2003, Sichuan Airlines paid 2.33 million yuan—about $280,000 then—for the hotline 8888-8888, arguing that it was memorable and would please customers, while also gaining publicity. In February 2025, Hong Kong’s registration mark 88 sold for HK$11.4 million, roughly $1.5 million. Beijing scheduled the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony for 8 p.m. on August 8, 2008; on that date, Beijing recorded 15,646 marriages. Tim says customer preference can make superstition commercially rational.

The number is also built into physical spaces. Shanghai’s Jin Mao Tower has 88 stories, an octagonal core, and eight main superframe columns; architect Adrian Smith said the client wanted eight because it was auspicious. An economic study of Chengdu apartment sales from 2004–2006 found that units on floors ending in eight resold for about 7% more. Where new-apartment prices were uniform, those units sold roughly a week faster, and buyers whose phone numbers contained more eights were more likely to choose them. Four has the opposite reputation because sì resembles the word for death, so buildings across East Asia often omit fourth floors—or use “F” instead.

Tim describes casino architecture as an elaborate business decision about good fortune. Sands Macau reportedly replaced the classic slot-machine 777 with 888, while feng shui consultants reviewed colors, entrances, exits, mirrors, shapes, and corners. Designers sent 3D plans on DVDs to a feng shui master in Kowloon; at Sands Macau, a sharp corner was rounded because it might deflect chi arriving from the northeast. High rollers received even more customized treatment: architect Paul Heratakis described a 2012 Venetian private gaming room shaped around one gambler’s birthday and zodiac sign. Architect Paul Steelman said resorts must have good feng shui for both player and casino owner.

Tim recalls that Japan was where he became an exchange student at 15, then explains how Chinese characters coexist with Japanese kana. The character for eight is read hachi, and its two strokes widen toward the bottom, suggesting prosperity expanding into the future. The Japanese word suehirogari describes this auspicious widening and historically evokes an opening fan. Toyota’s founding family name was Toyoda, but the company became Toyota because Toyota in katakana takes eight strokes, associating the brand with wealth and good fortune. Tim also notes the Shikoku pilgrimage’s circuit of 88 Buddhist temples, linked with Kūkai, or Kōbō Daishi.

Tim says the Korean number eight, pal, does not preserve the Chinese sound-based prosperity pun, but Korea gives eight a deeper connection to destiny. In saju palja, literally “four pillars, eight characters,” a person’s birth year, month, day, and hour each contribute two characters from the traditional calendar. Those eight characters are used to map a person’s life, and palja becomes an everyday shorthand for fate or one’s lot in life. Four retains its negative association because its pronunciation can also mean death; some Korean elevators therefore replace the fourth-floor number with F.

Tim contrasts Revelation’s 666, the Western “number of the beast,” with Chinese uses of six. He explains that Ronnie James Dio’s heavy-metal hand gesture was not three imagined sixes: it was the Italian mano cornuta, an old gesture for warding off the evil eye that Dio learned from his superstitious Italian grandmother and adopted after joining Black Sabbath in 1979. In Chinese, six can suggest smooth progress or a favorable road, so New Year red envelopes may contain amounts such as 600 or 666. Tim closes with the internet shorthand 88 for “bye-bye,” a cheap numerological farewell after an episode about expensive numbers, prosperity, and fate.