In our Chinese culture, pairings often give people a good feeling. The Chinese character “good 好” is a combination of a girl and a boy. Therefore, parents who have a daughter and a son are “good”, and relatives and friends are happy for them. In contrast, single or singular gives a sad impression. It is a custom in Hong Kong that when you give cash as gifts to newlyweds, you should always give them an even number.
Once I went to Taiwan to visit relatives, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. I tried to take pictures. An aunt suddenly left the three of us. Later, she stated that she did not like to be in photos of three people, because the Taiwanese “three” and “disperse” sound alike.
I heard that many people in Japan also don’t like taking photos of three persons. The reason behind it can be traced back to the era of foreigners burning magnesium powder lamps when taking pictures.
I like drinking tea. Sometimes I find beautiful tea sets in thrift stores. If there are four Japanese tea cups, likely it’s not a complete set, because Japanese tea sets generally come in five. Chinese tea cups are sets of even numbers (two, six, and eight). Occasionally, you will see sets of four, but superstitious people will not buy them. As for what is complete, the Chinese like ten, the so-called perfect number. The Jews consider twelve as good, the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles.
Is the even or odd number more auspicious? Look at your body. From the appearance, there are two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils. There is only one nose and mouth. One hand and one foot each have an odd number of fingers, but adding them together becomes an even number. Some organs in the body are singular and some are in pairs. Since the body is regarded as God’s design, it is best when all parts work together and complement one another.
Next time when a number gives you a bad feeling, try to think this way: It is a product of our culture. In reality there is neither a good nor bad number.
(Ken, retired pastor. Ken served in 3 different churches from 1987-2020.)
