A Cursed Chinese License Plate

Last Updated on October 18, 2017

This is related to a previous post I wrote about 666 being very lucky in China here . A while back I found a license plate that most Chinese people would find totally cursed.
The number 4 in Chinese, 四 si4 (in Mandarin) rhymes with 死 si3 (in Mandarin) meaning death. As such, Chinese people avoid the number 4 like the plague. The number 4 to Chinese people is considered cursed and very unlucky.

You can experience this if you go to a casino in Macau if you watch closely to what most Chinese people probably avoid gambling on. Sometimes in buildings, especially hotels, level 4 is skipped. Four in Chinese culture is akin to the number 13 in the West. Any time an integer is triplicated in Chinese creating a larger number, it makes the resulting larger number emphasize even more the characteristics of that base integer. For example, 6 is lucky, so 666 is considered even more lucky, and 8 is lucky, and so 888 is considered even more lucky. Likewise, 4 is considered unlucky, so 444 is considered very unlucky. I found this car, and took pictures of it earlier in January of this year. I took the pictures in Foshan, Guangdong.

There are several possible reasons I have come up for why a person would drive around with cursed license plate in China

1. Possibly the owner got the license plate for very cheap because it is considered cursed
2. It is a foreigner who has no idea about the number 4 being cursed
3. It is a Chinese person who is trying to mess with others’ heads
4. It is a Chinese person who doesn’t care much about Chinese superstitions

In any case, I find it very funny to see a cursed license plate in China 😉 What did you think of this article? Do you have anything to add? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.

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3 Comments

    1. Thanks. I’m glad you liked it!

  1. I’m living in china so I know this culture….. thanks though for sharing for those who don’t know… keep it up

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