When I last visited Hong Kong in October, I stayed for close to three weeks and yet never noticed this little important thing. Sometimes, the things that are right in front of us go unnoticed.
This time in less than 48 hours of being around, when I was taking the elevator to the 17th floor, VT pointed out that there was no 4th floor. And then I realized there was no 14th, 24th or 34th. This surprised me and as you would have guessed by now, I did exactly what any other curious mind would do – I was determined to find out why?
In China and many other South Asian countries, number 4 is considered unlucky for the reason that it sounds similar to ‘death’. In Hong Kong, people believe that number 4 and even those that end with 4 like 14, 24, 34 etc. are inauspicious and will bring upon bad luck. It is the phonetic sound that leads to the belief and
- 4 sounds as ‘death’
- 14 sounds as ‘certain death’
- 24 sounds like ‘easy to die’
So, not just in our apartment but all the buildings in Hong Kong omit the sequential numbering of floors.
Have you noticed something like this before?
Tagging this post for both #MicroblogMondays and #MondayMusings.
happiness and food 
Oh, wow! That is quite an interesting infortamtion, Parul!
LikeLike
*Information.
Sorry for the typo, Parul!
LikeLike
Thanks Shilpa! Yes – I was amused too 😉
LikeLike
That’s interesting
LikeLike
Yes,it is!
LikeLike
Once I watched an episode of House Hunters where a Chinese couple was looking to buy house. They were very specific that the apartment shouldn’t be on 4th floor and that the apartment number shouldn’t have in it. So yes, I have heard about it before. 🙂
LikeLike
Smart you are 😉 Yes – none of the apartments, even bus numbers have 4 in it.
LikeLike
Fascinating how different numbers have different cultural significance 🙂
LikeLike
Yeah – 13, 11, 12 and now 4.
LikeLike
Interesting! Never knew about the number 4 so inauspicious in South Asia!
LikeLike
Thanks for stopping by Shilpa! 🙂
LikeLike
I have heard of hotels skipping Floor number 13 out of superstition but no… never knew of a curse of the 4 series!
LikeLike
13 is common in the US. 4 was new to me too. Thank you Roshan!
LikeLike
Knew about the unlucky 13 but this is new for me. Never heard of this before.
LikeLike
Same here Reema- never heard about 4!
LikeLike
13 here in the US. It’s one floor, but it’s always noticable to me when I get in an elevator and it’s missing. But don’t the people on the 14th floor know they’re really on the 13th floor?
LikeLike
In India, we don’t associate bad luck to a number. So I’ve not seen this. In Bangalore, we have a famous restaurant by the name The Thirteenth Floor. From my trip to US, I failed to notice. But agree with you there – people know they are on the 13th floor even if it’s called the 14th.
LikeLike
13 seems to be missing here as well. Never knew about the number 4 though…I learned something new today! 😀
LikeLike
Thanks Jen! Information shared is information gained 🙂
LikeLike
That is something else! In the US, 13 is unlucky (although it’s always been lucky for me) and some hotels skip the 13th floor. I’ve never heard of the unlucky 4s before, and how it’s EVERY number that ends in 4. So fascinating!
LikeLike
Yes it is! Thank you Jess!
LikeLike
That’s an amazing observation. Will check it out the next time I’m traveling. Surprisingly I don’t like the No 4 myself . No specific reason nor any logical reason. As we Indians say “simply”. Happy new year to you and look forward to more interesting posts in the new year
LikeLike
Ha ha! Simply 😀 Thanks and wish you too a great year ahead! Yes – better blogging is my idea too 🙂
LikeLike
Well.. some of the high rise buildings here don’t have the 11th floor. It’s completely skipped! It goes from 10 to 12! 😀
LikeLike
Oh really? Where? That’s interesting to know.
LikeLike
We lived on the top floor of a 13 storey building in Colaba and our house number was 14 A 🙂
LikeLike
I lived on the top floor of a 13 storey building and the house number was 14 🙂
LikeLike
Indians believe in so many superstitions that they thought to skip ‘ numbers ‘. But strange for technologically advance countries .
LikeLike
Interesting observation!
LikeLike
Ohh interesting. I have heard about 8 and 13 but this is new.
LikeLike
I haven’t heard about 8. That sounds interesting too. Thanks for stopping by Arun!
LikeLike
That’s informative again.. Different cultures, different belief.. Thanks for sharing Parul 🙂
Cheers
LikeLike
interesting, isn’t it? Different Cultures 🙂
LikeLike
I had always heard about the the 13th floor not being there in buildings but not the 4th. That’s some interesting info :).
LikeLike
In Japanese (and I guess other languages from the same family), the word for 4 is Shi and for 7 is Shichi. Both of these are taken from the Hanji script of chinese (the mother script of that family I think). Shi means death, and Shichi is close to meaning “point of death”, which is why the Japanese use the 4 and 7 from their old traditional numbers – 4 is “Yon”, and 7 is “Nana”.
Cheers. 🙂
LikeLike
That’s interesting. There was no 2013 room in my hotel. Mine was 2015 so while looking my the room I noticed there wasn’t anything room with number 13.
LikeLike
See – so much so for superstition!
LikeLike