What is lucky?

Monday June 5, 2010
What is lucky?
This is a question, which our entire group found ourselves talking about more than I could have imagined. The answer: Red is lucky. White is not. Eight and nine are lucky. Four is not.
Everywhere, we saw red lanterns and red banners lining doorways and decorating the entrances to homes in the richest and poorest places we visited. The signs were everywhere.I saw lucky Chinese knots and tassles in the simple hutong home we visited in Beijing. Jackie Chan's posh Hong Kong home is located at #8 on his road.
I had always thought that this was the stuff of Chinese restaurants and Chinese New Year’s celebrations- just stereotypes. But even of our drivers had mini lucky red lanterns hanging next to the rear view mirrors of their buses.
Colors. Red is the color of New Year’s celebrations and weddings. Red is the color of the Chinese national flag. White is the color of death, funerals and ghosts.
Numbers. 8 is the number associated with wealth, everyone’s favorite kind of luck. This is the reason why the Beijing Olympic games began at 8 on August 8, 2008. A license plate number with 8s can fetch millions in regular Hong Kong license plate auctions. 4 on the other hand is associated with death. Many buildings in China skip from 3 to 5 in their numbering scheme.
Years. In the Chinese system for naming years after zodiac animal, the year of the pig is considered lucky (since pigs are generally fat and happy). 2007 was the golden year of the pig and many Chinese couples chose to have their babies during this golden pig year so that their one and only son or daughter would have an auspicious birthdate. The result was a baby boom during this very lucky year.
Animals. Cranes, turtles, goldfish and bats are all lucky. Lions symbolize good luck and prosperity and so are a good choice to guard the entrances to places that want to seem prosperous. Many bank entrances are guarded by a set of lions- a male on the right with its paw on a ball and a female on the left with her paw on a cub.
In conclusion: I am lucky. I have returned from a once in a lifetime trip, to a loving family (who met me at the airport with an armful of yellow roses) and much of the summer ahead of us. I have a job that I love and the chance to bring all that I have learned in China to my students and community. I am sooooo lucky.