1. 2 The history and cultural differences between numbers and their
connotation in English and Chinese and their analysis
In Chinese culture, heaven and earth produce everything by the interaction of two existential and powerful forces of the universe, yin and yang. “Since numbers were considered a mystical part of the universe, the ancient Chinese regarded odd numbers as yang or masculine and even numbers as yin or famine” [5]. “Nine”, as the largest single digit, took on the meaning of “ultimate masculinity” and implied the loftiest reverence for heaven. Therefore, the number “nine” symbolized the supreme sovereignty of the emperor who was the Son of Heaven. And the number “nine” (or its multiples) is often employed in the Chinese ancient architecture, particularly imperial buildings. Ancient palaces were usually designed as nine-section architectural complexes related to the digital “nine” in the number or size. Take the Forbidden City, located in the center of Beijing for example. It has a total of 9,999 bays, and the Gate Tower of Tian’anmen has nine by nine bays. Thus number “nine” or its multiple is ubiquitous in the architecture of the sacrificial temple. And the Nine Dragon Screen near Beihai Park has also been connected with number nine. The Chinese people show preference to number “nine”, not only on the construction of the building, but also in other fields, such as: Annual festival feasts for the royal court of the Qing consisted of 99 kinds of foods. And a division of ancient feudal government officials was “nine level”. Besides, to celebrate an emperor’s birthday, there were 81 forms of entertainment called the “nine-nine big celebration” to wish the emperor good luck and longevity [5]. By and by, the number “nine” became exclusively reserved and adorned by Chinese people, even today.
Generally speaking, in Chinese culture, even numbers are regarded to be lucky and propitious symbols, which can bring people good luck and fortune, while odd numbers are incomplete. But as far as English people are concerned, this phenomenon is on the other way around. They prefer odd numbers to even ones, such as “three”, “seven”, of course excluding number “thirteen”, as is known to nearly most English-speaking people. When celebrating or sending flowers to friends or relatives, people should take one, three, five, or even more (excluding 13), whereas, people send two or four, six flowers or its multiple when condoling with deceased persons.
But everything has its both sides. For instance, number “four” in Chinese has a bad and unlucky association and connotation, though it is an even number. Thus, another element that renders numbers good or bad in Chinese is the homophony and punning in a many-tone word. Number “four” has a similar sound with the Chinese character“死”,representing “death”. So a large number of people try every effort to avoid it. The possible omens associated with numbers and sounds of numbers by the Chinese are inexhaustible. In contrast, the number “eight” is fortunate because it sounds like“发”，namely, making a fortune. When it comes to the cases like telephone numbers, vehicle license numbers, door numbers, people show special preference to number “eight” or something associated with number “eight”, such as 168(to make a fortune all the way)(一路发)，518(I want to make a fortune)（我要发）and so forth[6]. Number nine also has such lucky association due to its sound and punning “eternity”(久). Therefore people favor to choose the date related to number “nine” as the wedding day. The 21st Century once reported that on 9th, September 1999, 165 pairs of people were married, in the hope of having everlasting love for each other [7].
But in contrast, English people worship number “four”, which is the symbol of justice, righteousness, power, the fountain of creation, and the key of everything in the world [4]. For instance, to the early people, the cosmos is made four elements: earth, air, water, and fire.
1. 3 The religions differences between numbers and their connotation in
English and Chinese and their analysis
Religion, considered to be the kernel source of a culture, without doubt influences people’s conception of culture, because of its dominant role in most countries. For ancient Chinese, “three” stands for the three parts of the universe: heaven, earth, and man. And it is said that there are three creators of the universe, governing the earth and the fairyland. Chinese traditional culture has been closely connected with the religions, dominated mainly by philosophical Confucianism for over 2000 years. And Confucianism has intertwined tightly with Taoism and Buddhism, whose thoughts bring a profound influence on the culture of Chinese numbers. In “Laotzu”（《老子》）,Laozi expressed that one produces two, two produces three and three produces everything. (道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物) [8]. Therefore, in Chinese there arise many idiomatic phrases, like “三教九流，三思而后行，三人行必有我师焉，余音绕梁，三日不绝，一日不见，如隔三秋”，and so on. Number “three” indicates perfection and completeness. The idiom“三生有幸”expresses that a person is fortunate all his life. Here“ 三生”refers to the previous life, present life and next life.
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