While the vast majority of people in her generation abandoned religion long ago, there is another ’strange coincidence’ which leaves many of my friends and students uneasy. The earthquake occurred on May 12th, or 5.12. My friends show me how if one adds each individual number together (5 + 1 +2), the sum is 8. The sum is also 8, my students tell me, when one adds together the numbers in the dates of the first snowstorm in China this year (1.25) and the date of the deadly Tibetan protests (3.23). What is the significance of the number ‘8? in China? Usually ‘8? is a lucky number; the Chinese sound for ’8? is ‘ba’ which is similar to the Chinese sound ‘fa’ which means fortune. This year, however, the year of 2008, some Chinese people feel that a cruel trick has been perpetrated upon them. The lucky number ‘8? seems to have been sinisterly twisted into a symbol of death and destruction. This worry behind this superstition is furthered by the realization that the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics will take place on August 8th, 2008 or 2008/08/08.
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