Chinese Mobile Luck Decoded

Most foreigners who are interested in China enough to come visit the country, or, their local Chinatown, understand the importance of the lucky number 8, but most in China will still be baffled with the sheer monetary and emotional efforts invested in quest of the perfect mobile number, and how a string of seemingly randomly auspicious numbers that are impossible for your average Laowai ("Old foreigner") to remember makes perfect sense to the average Chinese. Here is your quick guide to decoding the secret L factor in Chinese mobile number.

First, understand that Chinese numbers usually sound like other words and you can construct sentences out of them. To group the digits, let's call them lucky numbers vs. filler numbers:

Lucky Numbers: 8 (prosperity), 3 (birth/promotion), 9 (longevity), 7 (universal lucky number)  or even the dreaded Western 6 (smooth success), and at all cost avoid 4 (death).

Filler Numbers: These are the verbs and/or subjects: 1 (Will/Shall), 5 (I/Me), 2(Children/ Son), 7 (Can be a lucky number, or it can mean Wife in Chinese), 0 (Clever/Effective/Wishes come true), 17 (Together) 18 (Will prosper) 95 (Only me), etc, etc

The mission, should you accepted it or not, is always to find a new mobile number that is sufficiently affluent and affordable. Many of them have been already pre-purchased by some enterprising companies, only to be resold to you at the price of YOUR superstitions. The more lucky numbers it contains, the more expensive your mobile number will get - and they can start as low as 10 RMB (About 1.6 USD) and go up astronomically. 

Example: One of the most expensive numbers with a listed price I saw was 138 1158 8888, which loosely translates to "Will be promoted and prosperous, will will I prosper, prosper prosper prosper prosper". It's so tongue-twisting, you could whip this string into a money spell and teach it at Hogwarts.

How much does this much luck cost you? 450,000 RMB - yup, 70K USD to bid for that number. If you have that much dough for your digits, you have probably already, well, prospered prospered prospered prospered.

Drink and Thou Shall Prosper