4 is an auspicious number
Is the number 4 unlucky?
4 is an auspicious number for the Chinese!
In the past ten years, Chinese people seem to have become increasingly taboo on the number 4. The reason is that 4 is a homophonic sound for "death". But this homophony is a bit inexplicable. It has nothing to do with Mandarin. One has a falling tone and the other has a third tone. This difference in tone is absurd. The reason is that this fallacy originated from the dialect of a certain place in the modern south. Pronunciation, if the pronunciation is not accurate in dialects, 4 and "die" can easily be pronounced the same. The taboo number 4 in regions with the same pronunciation is excusable because it takes care of the weaknesses of human nature. People who speak Mandarin also follow the trend and regard 4 as an unlucky number. Doesn’t it seem incomprehensible? We have consulted a large number of ancient Feng Shui documents and sorted out the etiquette, customs, and traditions of northern and southern China, and we have never found that "four" is an unlucky number. In fact, 4 has been an auspicious number specially selected among 10 numbers by our ancestors since ancient times. In Chinese folk customs, there has been a saying of "happy four" since ancient times. It is often associated with wealth, luck, and auspiciousness, without any The meaning of disaster. Below are the evidences one by one.
1. From the character shape of "四": a house full of children and grandchildren, a prosperous population
1. The Chinese character "四" means a small "son" surrounded by railings on all sides. Protected like a treasure, stable and stable, it means that the square house is full of children and grandchildren, and the population is prosperous. Whose house can be separated from the number "four"? The first requirement for building a house is "four and eight stable", so "four" has been a lucky number for a house since ancient times.
2. The Arabic numeral "4" looks like a flag. It is the benchmark among all numbers. "0 is like an egg, 1 is like pencil, 2 is like duck, 3 is like ears, 4 is like flag, 5 is like hook, 6 is like bean sprouts, 7 is like sickle, 8 is like handcuffs, 9 is like tadpole." This is a children's song taught by the kindergarten teacher when we were exposed to numbers when we were young. Which number has the number 4 in its pictogram?
2. In terms of homophony of "four": sacred, peaceful, inheritance
The homophony is to take advantage of the homophone or near-syllable conditions of Chinese characters and replace the original character with a homophonic or near-syllable character. A figure of speech that produces rhetorical interest. What is easily accepted by the common people is "homonym".
1. The word "Temple" with the same four pronunciations is basically explained as follows:
(1) Ancient official signature: Taichang ~ (the official office in charge of ancestral temple etiquette in ancient times). Honglu~ (same as the modern concierge).
(2) The place where Buddhist monks live: Buddha~,~contemporary.
(3) Places where Muslims worship and preach: halal.
Judging from the meaning of the above-mentioned temples and the functions of temples for thousands of years, temples have always been associated with holiness, peace, and peace. They are places where people pray for peace and happiness, so they are enshrined here. They worship the gods who can protect them, such as the world-famous Shaolin Temple and Lingyin Temple, which have been popular for thousands of years. One is a homophone and the other is a homophone. So which one does 4 have a closer blood relationship with? It goes without saying at this point. If 4 must be associated with death, then the temples will not escape bad luck. Shaolin Temple, Lingyin Temple, etc. are both called Shaolin Death and Lingyin Death. Then wouldn’t it be wrong for people to travel, burn incense, and make pilgrimages to these places? To seek death? (This paragraph quotes the 2009 blog post "4 is a Lucky Number".)
2. The homophone for "壣" is basically explained as:
(1) Continuation, inheritance: (Original meaning: The princes pass the throne to the eldest son)
The king (the king who succeeded); the king (the monarch who succeeded); the master (the king who succeeded); the throne (inherited the throne) ; Sihuang (the emperor who succeeded to the throne); Sisheng (the new emperor who succeeded to the throne); Silin (who succeeded to the throne)
(2) Descendants: heirs. Heir.
If the number 4 is unlucky, would our ancestors have made the word "child" the same as the number 4? According to some people's random connections, "si" is a homophone for "death". When there is an heir, the descendants should become extinct? How come there are still us descendants of Yan and Huang?
3. The word "four": in pairs, four is happy to make a fortune
In China, "four" has always been an auspicious number that has been specially selected for thousands of years. Come, often associated with sacred auspiciousness, in pairs. The Jade Emperor has four heavenly kings; Tathagata has four protectors and four bodhisattvas; Taoism has four levels of merit. There are countless auspicious words and auspicious etiquette with the number four, here are a few examples:
1. Four-character idioms:
Everyone knows that idioms are a major feature of Chinese culture. It is the essence of Chinese culture. Most of them are composed of four characters, and there are countless auspicious idioms with four, such as: stable in all directions, prosperous in all directions, prosperous in all directions, peaceful in all directions, all over the world, famous all over the world, full of beauty in all directions, all directions Converging, aiming in all directions, four mountains and five mountains, encompassing the four seas, all four corners, six connections and four branches, three friends and four friends, four pavilions and eight dang, etc.
2. Etiquette and customs
Four means being in pairs, good luck and good luck in our country’s traditional folk customs.
(1) my country’s traditional wedding etiquette.
Red dates, red sorghum, red candles, and red cloth and silk must be placed on the ceremony table. The bride is very particular and wears red clothes, red trousers, red shoes, and red socks, which means "four reds and four joys" "Having food, clothing, and a prosperous life; when children get married, putting red dates, peanuts, longans, and chestnuts in the dowry, on the fire bed, and in the corner of the quilt means giving birth to a child early; at the banquet, to celebrate the wedding of the bride and groom, they have to drink wine first. Drinking eight glasses of wine is called "Four Reds and Four Happinesses"; the must-have dish is the Four Happiness Meatballs.
(2) The thousand-year banquet continues to this day.
In the northern region of our country, the highest courtesy for entertaining distinguished guests is the "April 8th" banquet. The "April 8th" banquet has a long history and is still a must-have banquet for distinguished guests or to celebrate happy events. There are 24 dishes in the 48th Banquet. That is: four spreading tables, four pressing tables, two large items, eight large bowls, four small bowls, and two pastries. The "Four Eight" banquet has the saying of "four reds and four joys, wealth coming from all directions, and everything stable".
(3) For numbers among people in Taiwan and southern Fujian, even numbers are generally the best. Even numbers such as: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, etc. are all good numbers. 2 means in pairs, 4 means in pairs, and the habit of giving gifts is made up of 4 types, which are called "four styles"; in southern Fujian, there is a saying of "hao si", which means good momentum, smooth things and smooth things. Four is a good sign.
4. The "four" in the brand name: privacy, security, stability, harmony
China's residential buildings pay most attention to Feng Shui. Although there are buildings of various shapes now, but in the world Across various places, the most common, strongest, most suitable for home use, and the most feng shui-friendly house is "square and upright, with all four corners intact", that is, square or rectangular. There is a square underneath our Chinese character "fang", which means It is said that a house can only be stable and strong if it is built in four directions. There is also the Siheyuan, which has been around for more than 3,000 years. Its form has begun to take shape as far back as the Western Zhou Dynasty and is the most widely distributed. It is a typical form of Han folk residences. The famous The Forbidden City is actually also a "siheyuan" layout. Judging from the layout of the courtyard, the "four" contains culture, which is privacy, security, and harmony. Our home, from the floor of the living room to the walls and ceiling, is not a square shape. Tables, chairs, cupboards, wardrobes. Count and see how many fours there are. Without the fours, will the home still be there?
There are also cars (our mobile home). There are 1, 2, 3, and 4-wheeled cars, but why does everyone grab the 4-wheeled ones?
Mobile phones are mainly square, right? Can they be separated from the four? Have you really never seen a circle or triangle? Back then, the iPhone 4 was also the goal pursued by many people? Some people say that my building number, room number, license plate number, mobile phone number, etc. cannot contain the number 4. It is unlucky to have 4 in it. Do you think it is ridiculous? I would say that it is lucky to have the number 4 in your building number, room number, car number, and mobile phone number, because only 4 can make your house and car stable, solid, and safe, because four means safety, privacy, stability, and harmony.
5. “Four” is an auspicious number in many countries
Throughout the world, almost all countries have preferences or taboos about numbers. However, due to differences in language and culture, the number of numbers is different. Preferences or taboos are very different among the numbers or combinations of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and some are even completely opposite. 4 is taboo in Japan and South Korea because the pronunciation of 4 in these two countries is exactly the same as the pronunciation of "death"; most countries in the world neither like nor taboo 4; English-speaking countries all like 4 because 4= four=for, for example, Valentine's Day is February 14th, and the day before Christmas (Christmas Eve), the most important holiday, is December 24th; in German, 4 is pronounced as "vier", which sounds close to (many) , so 4 represents more and more, so Germans like the number 4. For example, many license plates in Germany are "44444"; 4 in Dutch is a festive number because it is similar to the Dutch word "celebration". The numbers 6, 8, and 9 that Chinese people like are hated and taboo numbers in many countries. Indians don't like 6 and 8 because in Indian astrology, the 6th house indicates illness and the 8th house represents death. The Netherlands doesn’t like 6 because it has a similar pronunciation to “sex”, and some local sex service numbers also like to use the ending number “6666”; Japan doesn’t like 9 because the pronunciation of 9 is the same as “cry” in Japanese. They I hate "4, 6, 9" and the numbers composed of them; Thai people don't like 6 because its pronunciation means inverted and falling. Some Westerners taboo "3, 13", but the French like "13", while South Korea has "3, 7" everywhere; most Westerners like "7", Belarusians not only like "7", but also "7" "Multiple of ", such as "14, 21, 28" and so on. Traditional Chinese culture believes that "7" is a negative number, Singaporeans are taboo about "7, 8, 37", Ghanaians are taboo about "17, 71", and Argentina considers "17" to be unlucky. It can be seen that there are great differences in the superstitious numbers of different regional cultures. This difference just shows that the number itself cannot bring good or bad luck to people, because the same number cannot bring good fortune here, but not in another place. Does the place bring disaster? It is people who give it emotional color. If you are not superstitious, the numbers are all the same, neither good nor bad, just a sign. If you are superstitious, the number 4 is not unlucky in our country. It is taboo in countries or regions such as Japan, Korea, and some southern dialects because the pronunciation is exactly the same. For most Chinese people, we speak Mandarin. Why can’t it be connected with “death”? Unless you don't understand Mandarin, no one will misunderstand "four" as "death" in Mandarin. 4 has been a specially chosen auspicious number in China since ancient times, and its homophonic pronunciation of "died" only happened in the past ten years, without any cultural foundation or soil. And countless facts have proven or are proving that 4 is an auspicious number in China. (Please refer to Peking University Professor Cai Hongbin’s traditional numerology error. “4” is an auspicious number for the Chinese economy.) (Author: Ou Xiangxin)