Here are the stories of some numbers with which many inhabitants of our planet do not associate anything good. Traditionally it is believed that:

1 place. Number 666

The three sixes are also known as the number of the devil and the number of the beast. When meeting with him, the number can kill. Scientists have long been trying to solve the riddle of the number. If you look at the satanic sign, then in the middle you will see 666. Once they even predicted the end of the world on 06/06/2006. A meeting with him can turn into a grave.
2nd place. Number 23

A fatal number that makes people sick. There are many similarities with this number. The number 23 is the number that causes pain. A match with him could end up in a hospital. There is even a movie called the number 23.

3rd place. Number 13

The number 13 is also known as the number of failures. Those who come across him become losers. But fortunately, the curse of the number can stop itself. Friday the 13th is also known as "the day of bad luck".

And here in Japan:
Number 4 and number 9
The Japanese believe that the most unlucky number is "4". They avoid it at all costs. In hospitals and houses there is no fourth floor (Following the third is the fifth).
The Japanese had speech before writing. According to the generally accepted version, Chinese and Japanese characters are closely related. For the first time, Chinese characters came to Japan thanks to monks who transported texts in Chinese. Because of this, the Japanese reading of certain words was divided into three readings: on-reading (on'yomi), kun-reading (kun'yomi), and gikun. From the point of view of readers, this means that the kanji (character) has multiple readings and multiple meanings. But gikun is a combined variant and is often found in Japanese surnames. Example. The character 道 in Chinese sounded something like [dao]. In Japanese speech, he acquired the sound [do]. Thus, [do] is the on reading of the character 道 in Japanese. With this kanji (a borrowed Chinese character), the Japanese began to designate the word path. Initially, even before the advent of writing in Japan, they already had the word path in oral speech, it is read as [miti], i.e. [michi] is the kun reading of the character 道 in Japanese. Or the combination 一寸 can be read as issun (that is, "one sun"), but in fact it is an indivisible combination of totto ("a little").

Let's get back to reading numbers in Japan.
Onnoe (Japanized Chinese) reading of the number "4", [si], lat. , is reminiscent of the character 死 ("death"), which has the same reading. Another unlucky number for the Japanese is 9. . And all again because of bad consonance. The number "9" (九) is considered unlucky by the Japanese because of the consonance with the hieroglyph "torment" ("pain"). The Japanese call this consonance nothing else than “goroawase”.

Examples of "unlucky" two-digit numbers in Japan:
24 — ni si (二死): "double death";
33 — sanzan (散々): "unfortunate"; "cruel, terrible";
42 — si ni (死に): "towards death";
49 — siku (死苦): "death throes".

Number 39

Afghans avoid the presence of the number 39 on car numbers, mobile and home phone numbers, and even building addresses. People who have it on their house number pay calligraphers to draw a nine that looks like an eight as much as possible. If a resident of Kabul has the number 39 in his phone number, he must take care to put an anti-identifier of the number, otherwise no one will answer his calls. Finally, people who are 39 years old try not to mention it. When asked about their age, they answer that they are almost 40.

Number 0888 888 888

In Bulgaria, the phone number 0888888888 is not operated by the mobile phone company Mobitel due to superstition. The fact is that three of its ex-owners died one after another. The first to go to the other world was Vladimir Grashnov, the former head of Mobitel. According to the official version, the cause of Grashnov's death was cancer. But there were rumors in Bulgaria that he had been poisoned by competitors. Then the number was given to the drug lord Konstantin Dimitrov. Dimitrov died in Holland, where he went to inspect his possessions. The murder was blamed on rival Russian mafia clans. Drug dealer Konstantin Dishliev also became the third owner of the unlucky number. A man officially engaged in real estate activities has died near a popular restaurant in Sofia. A few days before, the police found drugs worth 130 million euros in his home. After that, Mobitel stopped servicing the "damned" number.

Number 11

The twin towers of the World Trade Center stood close together and resembled a huge number 11. Planes flown by terrorists crashed into them on September 11 (the ninth month of the year). Summing up two units and nine, we get, again, 11. But that's not all. September 11 is the 254th day of the year, and the numbers 2, 5, and 4 add up to 11. The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11. It had 11 crew members and 92 passengers (9+ 2=11). Finally, in the English names of the city of New York and the country of Afghanistan, as you might guess, exactly 11 letters each.

Number 17

Italians consider the number 17 unlucky. According to them, it symbolizes death, because it is written in Roman numerals, as XVII. "What's wrong here?" - you ask. The fact is that such a sequence is not difficult to convert into the word "VIXI", meaning "I lived." It was it that was often knocked out on the graves of the ancient Romans. In addition, the number 17 is considered unlucky because February 17th is the day the Flood began (this is one of the rare events accurately dated in the Bible). We also mention that in one of the number systems used to interpret dreams, 17 means failure.

Number 250

For the Chinese, the number 250 is offensive. The fact is that in their language it is pronounced as "er bai wu", which translates as "idiot". To use this number as an insult, probably, even the ancient inhabitants of the Celestial Empire began. Interestingly, when copper coins were still common in the country, the amount of 1000 coins was considered an established measure of value. If the product cost 2 times less (500 coins), it was clear that it was inferior in quality. The price of 250 coins was set for goods of the lowest quality.

Number 87

The seemingly innocuous number 87 is referred to in Australian cricket as the "Devil's Cricket Number". Fans of this sport believe that the server, most likely, after scoring 87 points, will soon fly out of the game. The roots of the superstition date back to 1929, when 10-year-old Keith Miller was watching a game with Donald Bradman, considered "the best bat" at the time. In that game, Donald scored just 87 points, after which he was taken out of the game. Fifteen years later, when Miller also became a professional cricketer, his team-mate Ian Johnson once also dropped out with exactly 87 points, allowing the superstition to take hold. The funny thing about this story is that many years later, Miller decided to re-examine the same match in detail. To his surprise, he found out that Donald Bradman then scored 89 points, and not 87 at all.

Number 17

In 2014, for seven days, starting from the 17th day of the seventh month (July), planes crashed on the territory of Ukraine, Mali and Taiwan. Malaysian flight MH17 was shot down at 17:17 in eastern Ukraine. It is noteworthy that the Boeing 777 aircraft was operated for exactly 17 years (from July 17, 1997 to July 17, 2014). In the same month, an Indian military helicopter flying over Taiwan crashed at 17 hours 7 minutes, 7 passengers died in the accident. A little earlier, on July 7, 2014, a Mi-171 helicopter used by the Vietnamese military crashed at 07:37.

Number 26

26 is an unlucky number in India. The devastating earthquake in Gujarat that killed 20,000 people is dated January 26, 2001. On December 26, 2004, a powerful tsunami killed almost 230,000 people. On May 26, 2007, powerful bombs exploded in the north-east of India, in the city of Guwahati. On July 26, 2008, a bomb exploded in Ahmedabad. Finally, exactly 5 months later, on November 26 of the same year, a series of bloody terrorist attacks followed in India. When adding the numbers 2 and 6, you get 8. In numerology, the figure eight symbolizes devastation, difficulties, failures. Experts warn that it is better not to appoint marriages and other solemn ceremonies on the 8th day of the month.

Number 191

Since the 1960s, five different aircraft with flight number 191 have crashed. In 1967, an X-15 aircraft crashed in America, which made the 191st experimental flight in a row. Surprisingly, this plane crash was the only one in the history of the use of the X-15. Prin Flight 191 crashed at Mercedita Airport (Puerto Rico) in April 1972. In 1985, tragedy overtook the Delta Airlines Flight, which was also on its 191st flight. It crashed while landing in Dallas. Then 137 people died. In 1979, in the United States of America, having barely taken off from Chicago's O'Hare Airport, a passenger liner crashed. All 273 people on board were killed. His flight number is 191. Finally, in 2012, JetBlue Airways' 191 had to make an emergency landing. One of the pilots during the flight suddenly began to behave inappropriately. Passengers with difficulty kept him while the co-pilot landed the liner. The major airlines Delta Airlines Flight and American Airlines have recently stopped using flights with the unlucky number 191.

Numerology, despite its name, is not a science; rather, it is an alchemy on numbers. The mathematical concept of numbers, by definition, contains nothing but the category of quantity, while numerology suggests that numbers have some esoteric properties.

In Russia, we often follow traditions when we consider the number "7" lucky, and "13" - a number that should be avoided in every possible way, so as not to "jinx it." We already at the reflex level spit three times over the left shoulder, knock on wood three times and, following the saying “God loves a trinity”, we drink for three under the canopy of the three branches of power, crowned with the Russian tricolor. But what God does not like is the "number of the beast" 666, which was recently remembered on the occasion of the introduction of TIN - individual taxpayer numbers - into the life of Russians.

Indeed, a person endows numbers with properties that, by mathematical standards, are not inherent in numbers. Some numbers become "special" due to the natural order of things. Thus, the following concepts are associated with the number “1”: primacy, uniqueness, universality, chance. Nature itself predetermined the breakdown of the year into 12 months and the duration of the week into 7 days: the lunar year (i.e. “month”) lasts about 30 days (more precisely, 29.5306 days), which for 4 stages of the moon are divided into periods of 7 days, and 365 days a year (more precisely - 365.2422 days) are divided into 4 seasons, each approximately 91 days long, which fit 3 full lunar years. As a result, 4 seasons of 3 months each give a 12-month calendar with 7-day weeks. The creation of the world by the Christian god in seven days de jure seems to be a de facto recognition of solar mechanics. On the other hand, the ratio of days and months in a year does not make up integer proportions, which indicates a more complex structure of the world than in a clockwork with gears.

However, human nature does not know the boundaries of reason. Mysticism, religion, astrology, pseudoscience have contributed to the understanding of numbers as a special form of matter. “What is the wisest thing? - Number!" - said the Pythagoreans in the west in the 5th century. In the East, wisdom, as a product of the activity of outstanding minds, was no less honored, and together with the magic of numbers, it entered the flesh and blood of the cultures of the eastern peoples. China and Japan are proof of this.

The simplest manifestation of numerology is in vocabulary, in the formation of stable phrases with numerals. At the same time, the introduced meanings are assigned to the numerals, due either to separate philosophical and religious interpretations of these numbers, or to the properties of the hieroglyphs with which the numbers are written. There are many similar words in Japanese. They give at the subconscious level such associative links that, according to rationally thinking people, cannot exist in nature itself.

With the number "2" (ni), obviously, a number of philosophical concepts are associated, meaning duality. So, nigenron is "dualism". This is based on the Chinese yin and yang, as well as the complementary concepts associated with it: big-small, male-female, light-dark, etc. Among the political terms is the ninsei system of the bicameral parliament of Japan - the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors.

The hieroglyph for the number "3" (san) is the same as the reading of another hieroglyph for "birth", so "3" is considered a "good" number. The number "3" is found in many words and concepts: sanze - "three worlds" (past, present, future); Sansei - three great Teachers or Teachings (Buddha - Buddhism, Confucius - Confucianism, Lao Tzu - Taoism); sanshu-no-jingi - three symbols of the power of Imperial Japan (octagonal mirror, magic sword, jasper pendants); sambo - “three treasures” (images of the Buddha, Buddhist sutras, property of the Buddhist monastic community); sansai - "three forces", existing (heaven, earth, man); sankagen - triad; sansedai-tokyo - "three generations living under one roof"; sangun - "three armies", a great army (land, sea, air forces); santoseiji - "policy of three heads", triumvirate; sankei "3 kinds" - the three most beautiful places in the Japanese Empire, etc.

In Japan, “4” is considered a “bad” number, since the character for this number is read like the character for “death” - si. In a number of words, the hieroglyph “4” is read not as si, but as yon, so as not to anger the gods and not bring trouble on yourself and others. Maybe the marking time in the negotiations about the South Kuriles is due to the fact that something lifeless lurks in the Japanese term yonto (“four islands”)? Also, “9” is considered a “bad” number, since its reading - ku - among the Japanese is associated with another hieroglyph, meaning "torment, difficulties." In Japanese hotels and hospitals, there are no rooms with the number 49, since the word shiku associated with this number means "mortal torment", "mortal agony". During wedding ceremonies, it is forbidden to pronounce words containing these si and ku, just as it is indecent for us to speak badly about the dead at a funeral. On the other hand, the Russian call “bitter!” at a Japanese wedding, it would probably look like a wish for a fly in the ointment on a honeymoon.

The number “5” (go) is associated with a whole range of Eastern religious and philosophical concepts: godai - five great principles in Buddhism (earth, water, fire, wind, sky), gogyo - five moving principles (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), goaku - five sins (murder, theft, treason, perjury, alcoholism, drug addiction), gojo - five basic virtues (philanthropy, justice, politeness, wisdom, fidelity), gojo - five passions (pleasure, joy, passion, anger , grief), gorin - five relationships between people (between father and son, master and servant, husband and wife, brothers, friends), godaishu - five continents (Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Oceania), godaiyo - five oceans, gokoku - five cereals (rice, wheat, millet, hemp, beans), gosekku - five festivals (January 7 - nana-kusa "seven herbs", 3.3 - jomi-no-sekku "girls festival", 5.5 - tango-no- sekku "boys' festival", 7.7 - tanabata "star festival", 9.9 - choyo-no-sekku "chrysanthemum festival"), gokyo - five Chinese classes works of art, etc. The five great beginnings of godai also found expression in temple buildings - in the five-tiered pagodas of goju-no-to. In the game of Go, you need to line up 5 tiles to win. In Japanese soroban accounts, there are not 10 knuckles in a row, but 5. If we add a purely human to the list - five goshi fingers, five parts of the body gotai (head, neck, chest, arms, legs), five internal gozo organs (lungs, heart, spleen, liver, kidneys) and the five sense organs of the gokan, then the number "5" can rightfully be called the "number of a person."

The number "7" (city, nana) in Japan, as well as in Russia, is also a "good" number. The “seven lucky gods” of Shichifukujin are known: the god of health Daikokuten (with a bag), the god of trade Ebisu (with fish), the god of wealth Bishamonten, the goddess of health and wisdom Benzaiten, the high-browed god of health and longevity Fukurokuju, the god of longevity Jurojin and the pot-bellied god of pleasure Hotei. According to one of the Japanese versions, the Russian nesting doll is the “daughter” of the puppet images of these gods, which themselves are a variant of the toy in the form of 12 nested eggs that came to Russia in the 1880s from the Japanese port city of Hakodate, open to foreigners. The number "7" is found in many phrases: nanafushigi - seven wonders (of the world), shitidogaran - seven buildings in Buddhist temples, haru-no-nanakusa - seven spring herbs, aki-no-nanakusa - seven autumn herbs, shichinan - seven (elemental ) disasters, etc.

The hieroglyph, meaning the number "8", resembles a road leading to heaven. And isn't this a symbol of the eightfold path in Buddhism? The number "8" even entered one of the ancient names of Japan - Yashimakuni, i.e. "country of eight islands". The hieroglyph for the number "10" has the form of a cross, so it is included in words meaning: road crossing, crossfire, Red Cross or crossword. It is obvious that in the Russian language there is no such kind of associative links due to the graphics of letters. However, an acrobatic figure from the Kamasutra is inextricably linked with the image of the number “69” both in Europe and in Asia.

A significant contribution to the creation of the world cult of numbers was made by Buddhism, in which, on the basis of the laws associated with a number of numbers from 3 to 12, various numerical combinations are formed. In this row: “3” - triad, 4 truths of the states of nirvana, 5 skandhas, 6 sense organs, “7” - one step to the eightfold path, “9” - one step to the perfection of the bodhisattva, 10 perfections of the bodhisattva, “11” - one step up to hexadecimal full cycle. The omniscience of the Buddha can be represented by the arrangement of three rows: the first - from 3 to 12; the second, after multiplying the first row by 3, from 9 to 36; the third, after multiplying the second row by 3, is from 27 to 108 (in particular, there are 108 bones in a Buddhist rosary). According to the Buddhist canons, the dead are commemorated after 7, 14, 35 and 49 days, and not after 3, 6, 9, 20 and 40 days, as is customary among Christians. Yes, and during the marriage Shinto ceremony, according to the principle of sansankudo “3 and 3 - 9 times”, the bride and groom drink rice wine - sake - in three sips in three visits, and not how much the soul asks.

Japanese poems are also written according to numerical sequences. So, the verses in the form of a tank, there is a poetic miniature of 31 syllables, following in the ratio 5-7-5-7-7. Haiku verses correspond to the truncated number series 5-7-5. Here the score is kept by the number of syllables - the letters of the Japanese alphabet. It is obvious that versification in Russian is based on somewhat different principles - the principles of rhythm and rhyme, and only literalists are capable of counting the number of letters, words or lines in "Eugene Onegin".

Numbers also act as imprecise categories of "few", "many", "few", or "different". In the saying “to get lost in three pines”, the number “3” means “a small amount”. On the other hand, in the idiom “go to all four directions”, the number “4” means “anywhere”. In Russia, the number "7" also has the meaning of "several" or "many", which is reflected in the sayings: measure seven times - cut one, seven do not expect one, seven troubles - one answer, seven nannies have a child without an eye, a bow from seven ailments, etc. In Japan, numbers can also carry a similar load. For example, Nisan "2-3" - several; shiho "4 sides", happo "8 sides" (four cardinal directions, plus diagonal ones) or shiho-happo - all directions (i.e. "anywhere"); gobugobu “5 ​​parts and 5 parts” – equally; shitinan-hakku “7 troubles, 8 torments” - all kinds of misfortunes (compare with the idiom seven sweats); nanatsudogu "7 accessories" - everything you need for life; nana-korobi ya-oki “fell down 7 times, got up 8 times” - fight to the end; juchu-hakku "8, 9 out of 10" - almost certainly; junin-toiro “10 people, 10 wishes” - how many people, so many opinions; shiyakushibyo "404 diseases" - all kinds of diseases; Yaticus "8000 herbs" - all herbs, etc. etc.

Birthdays are not spared either. In Russia, they are usually celebrated annually, with special emphasis on dates ending in zeros and fives. In Japan, annually on November 15, the Shinto holiday shichi-go-san (“7-5-3” - “good” numbers!) Is celebrated for boys who turn 3 or 5 years old this year, and for girls who turn 3 or 5 years old this year. 5 or 7 years old. Also in January, those who turn 20 this year celebrate the “coming of age day”. However, birthdays are not traditionally celebrated separately. There is a national holiday - the birthday of the Emperor of Japan (the current Emperor Akihito has December 23). It is possible that the Japanese do not celebrate their own birthdays because of the traditionally negative attitude in Japan to the manifestation of any individualism, while the birthday of the deity - the Emperor of Japan - acts as a day of unity for the nation. But in Japan, as a tribute to the older generation, special ages are distinguished with special names: 60 years (kanreki “calendar return” - the name is from the 60-year Chinese cycle), 70 years (koki), 77 years (kiju “joyful longevity” ), 80 years old (sanju “longevity under an umbrella”), 81 years old (hanju), 88 years old (beiju “rice longevity”), 90 years old (sotsuju “final longevity”), 99 years old (hakuju “white longevity”), 108 years (saju), etc.

In Russia, the cult of numbers is not practiced. And it’s not even customary to count anything special or outstanding. Only “three constituent parts of Marxism”, “26 Baku commissars”, or the spiritualistic number of the drinking “era of stagnation” - 3.62 (state-owned vodka price) are remembered. But it would never occur to anyone to talk about three, five or seven great poets, writers or musicians of Russia, thereby canonizing them and opposing them to the rest. Moreover, not all the remarkable people of Russia were at odds with the Orthodox Church. Some Japanese, studying the Russian language and Russian culture, are engaged, in particular, in researching the poetic heritage of A. Blok. But it seems that no one in Japan is studying the phenomenon of author's song and the work of such songwriters as, for example, B. Okudzhava, A. Galich, V. Vysotsky or Y. Vizbor. Is it because A. Blok has already been “counted” and labeled “classic”, but there are no bards yet?

However, there are positive aspects to this approach. If we recognize the significance of this or that event, then this implies that it is impossible not to know and impossible not to remember. Maybe numerology is that psycho-emotional “glue” that cements important concepts, facilitating their memorization and in the future preventing the memory from getting rid of the “sad wisdom” of knowledge in parts?

Now let's talk about the most unfortunate number from the point of view of the Chinese - 4.

Classical Chinese numerology sees nothing wrong with the four. This number symbolizes stability, rationality and balance.

Four in classical Chinese culture

Remember:

Four cardinal points - north, south, west and east;

Four seasons of the year - summer, winter, autumn and spring;

Four worthy occupations of a noble person - playing a musical instrument, chess, calligraphy and drawing (we talked about this in the article about in);

The Four Great Terems of China - Penlai, Yuyan, Tenwan and.

As you can see, the four is very popular in classical Chinese culture. In the religious sphere, it is also common:

Four main texts in Taoism;

Four sacred texts of Confucianism.

Number 4 in modern China

All the positive aspects of the four are leveled by only one phonetic coincidence. In Chinese, 4 is read as "Su" in the fourth tone.

On many sites on the Internet you will see "C", but this is not the case. The transcription of "Si" was taken from English sources, where they write "Si". What else should they write? There is no "s" in English. They write the closest transcription - "Si". From English, this error smoothly migrated to the Russian Internet.

In Chinese, 4 is read as "Su" in the fourth tone. And the word “death” is read as “Sy” in the third tone. This phonetic association has given the four such bad reputation.

Tetraphobia

We have 13 is considered a bad number, but we are not afraid of it as much as the Chinese four. Moreover, this is not only a Chinese phenomenon.

In Japanese, 4 is pronounced "shi" similar to the word for "death";

In Korean, 4 is pronounced “sa” similar to the word for “death”;

In Vietnamese, these words are similar, but more distantly.

Tetraphibia is not only a Chinese phenomenon, but is characteristic of the entire southeast of Asia. Often in buildings there are no 4th, 14th, 24th and so on floors, there are no floors from 40 to 49. In Hong Kong it also happens that there is no 13th floor. Hong Kong used to be a colony of Great Britain, and they inherited a dislike of the number 13 from the British. As a result, the 50th floor by number turns out to be the 35th in fact.

Hong Kong builders can be understood. Apartments and offices here are more expensive, the higher the floor. Any property on floors with a four in a room, on the contrary, costs less. In this way, they “stuff” the price of real estate, and tetraphibia is not the main motivation here.

The Taiwanese and South Korean armed forces do not use the number 4 in the serial numbers of ships and aircraft as a matter of principle. But the Chinese army despised tetraphobia, and does not pay attention to it.

Almost all Chinese people avoid fours in phone numbers, houses, apartments, cars or whatever.

Some combinations of numbers in China sound scary. 14 - you want to die, 24 - you will die easily, 74 - you will definitely die and 94 - you will die forever. The last phrase sounds illogical to us, but for the Chinese it makes sense, and this sense is terrible.

In neighboring Japan, the number 49 sounds the most terrible way - “pain to death”.

The Chinese people have always been famous for their superstition and serious attitude towards legends and common traditions. This is especially true of the magic of numbers, which has been respected and even slightly feared since ancient times, because it can control people's lives. The number 4 in China is considered the most terrible. Thanks to this attitude of the Chinese, even the special term "theraphobia" arose - the fear of the number 4.

What is the reason for such fear? Everything is simple. The bottom line is that the number 4 in China sounds about the same as the word "death". Four is 四 Sì, death is 死亡 Sǐwáng.

Even the different spelling and tone of pronunciation could not save the number from such a sad fate.

To make it more clear, for the Chinese, four means the same as the number 13 for us. This is a devilish number that brings continuous trouble and trouble. By the way, in China they do not believe in the bad value of the number 13, however, in solidarity with European tourists, the Chinese also try not to use this number often.

The panic and fear that the number 4 sows with its presence in China among the local population led to the fact that the Government of the country had to resort to withdrawing this number from general circulation. Arriving in China and settling in a hotel, you will not be able to find in it either a floor or a room signed with the number four. Most often, staff use the substitution with the letter F, or simply the floor or number that follows the fourth in order is signed as the fifth. Signature 3 "a" is also used.

Definitely not everyone does this, there are elevators with the number 4, and floors and house numbers, but the most superstitious still try to remember the meaning of the number 4. Most recently, in one of the hotels in China, I had to go through a very long corridor three times, looking for my number with the number "2034". It simply did not appear, 2036 followed immediately after 2032 (even side).

Many people know the story that the existing hospital at number 4 almost stopped its activities, because patients refused to undergo treatment in it, explaining their position by the fact that, by agreeing to cross the threshold of the hospital with a “dangerous” number, they knowingly doomed themselves to death . In this regard, the hospital had to be urgently renamed.

The unfortunate number 4 in China eventually led to the fact that the country also banned the issuance of license plates containing this magic number. The fact is that almost all motorists who were “lucky” to receive a registration number with a four refused to receive it, frightened by the fact that they could, at best, get into an accident on such a vehicle or even die. Even despite all the paperwork, the revision of paperwork, the confusion in the registration services and the huge queues there, the number 4 has become banned in China.

By the way, the fate of the “unfortunate” and “avoidable” numbers overtook not only the four, but also all other complex numbers that contain it. For example, 14, 24, 54, 742, etc.

Be that as it may, no matter how many people would not like to believe in Chinese ancient superstitions, you can’t deceive the statistics. And she says that most deaths in China occur on the fourth day. Such data is provided by American sociologists, having analyzed data on the mortality of Chinese living in the United States. Is this superstition or fiction? The question remains open, but statistics is an exact science, so it is very possible to understand the Chinese, who are afraid of the number 4.

Although even despite such sad data, many modern Chinese remain cold-blooded in relation to the magic four. Even considering the fact that Chinese numerology is based on Taoism, a time-tested tradition.

I will add that the number 4 in China can also have a positive meaning. For example, the number 48 in literal translation sounds like “death money”, but it means “great wealth”, which is earned by honest hard work.

To believe in this superstition or not, this is your personal business, I will add on my own that this phenomenon cannot be explained by science in any way.

If you want to know more about the traditions and culture of China, life and superstitions, and at the same time study Chinese (or even get a higher education), we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the opportunities for obtaining long-term language courses, undergraduate and graduate programs.

Most people are probably not familiar with the word triskaidekaphobia, although everyone has encountered the phenomenon it denotes. We are talking about a painful fear of the number 13, which is common among people in Western Christian culture and is explained by religious prejudices.

In East Asia, religions and traditions are different, and they give rise to their own superstitions. One of them is tetraphobia, that is, the irrational fear of the number 4. This phenomenon is most widespread in China, Korea and Japan.

Si means death

If the fear of the number 13 is explained by several more or less plausible versions at once, then with tetraphobia everything is simpler and clearer. The reason for the fear of the four is that the Chinese character for this number "sy" is pronounced almost the same as the word for "death". The difference here is only in what tone is used in pronunciation. In Japanese and Korean, these words came from Chinese with minor changes.

Where does prejudice lead?

In these countries, superstition is so strong that in hotels, hospitals and other public buildings there are usually no floors that end in the number 4. This means that, for example, in a 20-story building there will not only be a fourth, but also a fourteenth level. Even more confusion is added by the desire to please the Europeans - the thirteenth floor is also excluded from the numbering, so after the twelfth comes immediately the fifteenth.

Superstitious people in East Asia go out of their way to avoid the appearance of the number 4 in everyday life. This is especially true of the time when the family is resting during the holidays or is experiencing the illness of one of the members. In the patient's house, they try not to mention the four. Offering four items (no matter what) is also not recommended.

Negative associations with death affect not only the civilian population. Superstitions in full growth are present in the army. For example, when designating warships and aircraft in South Korea and Taiwan, the number 4 is also avoided.

If it is customary for us to consider Friday the 13th an extremely unfortunate day, then for those prone to tetraphobia, the analogue of this is April 4th. A "bad" number is avoided when numbering anything - hospital wards, streets, tables in a restaurant. Superstitious people do not want to see negative combinations in their telephone and other identification numbers.

Tetraphobia in Asia is much stronger than the fear of the number 13 in the West. If in our country the exclusion of the "damn dozen" from the list of floors or rows of seats in an airplane is considered rather a curiosity, which should be treated with indulgence, then the Chinese and Japanese attitude to their fears is completely different. In these countries, tetraphobia permeates both business circles and society. People are more likely to refuse to buy property on a street with the wrong name, and trying to put a loved one in ward number 14, 24 or 42 will be perceived as an insult that requires retribution.

How to live without a four

A person who grew up in Japan does not need to be explained why the number 4 should be avoided. By the way, the second unlucky number among the Japanese is 9, since in pronunciation it is consonant with the word "torment". In this regard, the number 49 is even more disliked in this country, because it is associated not just with death, but with mortal torment.

But there are also areas that have not absorbed local superstitions, such as the standard account system and doing business with foreigners. This is where everyone has to adjust. If somewhere in the name of the street a four was unsuccessfully wormed and real estate prices went down because of this, then the interested parties will simply get the local authorities to remove it. Sometimes you can't just drop the numbers 4 or 14 from the numbering. In such cases, block numbers in residential complexes can be replaced with 3A or 13A.

Another industry where the effects of tetraphobia are clearly visible is mobile communications. Cell phone numbers are generated in order from a certain range, and operators cannot simply skip combinations they don't like at will. Unless, of course, they want to sell more SIM cards. What to do with numbers that end in 4 or have too many fours in their composition? They are also on sale, but at discounted prices.

If we are talking about mobile phones as devices, then the trick to reduce the cost for models with "wrong" numbering is not suitable. When the company was still a significant player in the telecommunications market, it simply did not use the number 4 to refer to models that were sold in Asian markets.

Beijing claimed to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, but then Sydney won. China did not want to host the next games in 2004, so it did not submit a tender. It is assumed that the reason for the refusal to fight for the 2004 Olympics was precisely the attitude of a significant part of the population towards the four. China skipped one Olympic cycle and ended up hosting the 2008 Olympics. Circumstances turned out perfectly - the eight in Chinese culture is considered a lucky number.