The number
8 (八, ) sounds like "發" (). There is also a visual resemblance between 88 and 囍 (), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 (). The number 8 is viewed as such an auspicious number that being assigned a number with several eights is considered very lucky. • Steve Wozniak held the United States telephone number +1(408)888-8888 for many years in Silicon Valley. Several businesses in Silicon Valley have multiple "8" characters in their names, particularly near the cluster of wealthy Chinese ex-pats in and around Cupertino, California, the original home of Apple computer when Steve Jobs was invited back to run the company after Next. • In 2014, the Australian Department of Home Affairs renamed their previous Business Skills (provisional) visas, subclasses 160–165, to 188 and 888 Subclasses, both of which include eights. • In 2003, the phone number "+86 28 8888 8888" was sold to
Sichuan Airlines for
CN¥2.33 million (approximately US$280,000). • In 2008, an unidentified Las Vegas local purchased bulb #88 on 08-08-08 from the
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign, sold by
YESCO, who provides maintenance of the sign, and sells the replaced light bulbs as Official Las Vegas Lights. An employee of the company indicated that another person had offered $750,000 to the original buyer who declined to sell. • The opening ceremony of the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 minutes and 8 seconds past local time (
UTC+08). •
China,
Taiwan,
Hong Kong,
Macau,
Malaysia, the
Philippines and
Singapore use the
time zone UTC+08:00. • The
Asian American mass media company
88rising (known primarily for being the record label of artists such as
Joji and
Rich Brian) adopted the name in 2016, and has referenced its symbolism in the titles of several events, including the 2018 US tour
88rising Double Happiness. • The
Petronas Twin Towers in
Malaysia each have 88 floors. •
Buick offers a minivan for the Chinese market under the
GL8 name, a model name not used in any other market. • The
Air Canada route from Shanghai to Toronto is Flight AC88, and the route from Hong Kong to Vancouver is Flight AC8. • The
KLM route from Hong Kong to Amsterdam is Flight KL888. • The
Etihad Airways route from Abu Dhabi to Beijing then onwards to Nagoya is Flight EY888. • The
United Airlines route from Beijing to San Francisco is Flight UA888, the route from Beijing to Newark is Flight UA88, and the route from Chengdu to San Francisco is Flight UA8. • The
Air Astana route from Beijing to Almaty is Flight KC888. • The
British Airways route from Chengdu to London is Flight BA88. • The
Cathay Pacific route from Hong Kong to Vancouver is Flight CX888. •
Singapore Airlines reserves flight numbers beginning with the number 8 for flights to and from mainland China, Hong Kong (except SQ1/2 to and from San Francisco via Hong Kong) and Taiwan (i.e., a typical flight between Singapore and Beijing (Capital) would be numbered SQ802/807). •
SriLankan Airlines reserves flight numbers beginning with the number 8 for flights to mainland China and Hong Kong. • The
Turkish Airlines route from Istanbul to Beijing is TK88. • The
US Treasury has sold 70,000 dollar bills with serial numbers that contain 4 eights. •
Boeing delivered the 8,888th 737 to come off the production line to
Xiamen Airlines. The airplane, a Next-Generation 737–800, features a special livery commemorating the airplane's significance. • In
Singapore, a breeder of rare Dragon fish (
Asian arowana, which are "lucky fish" and being a rare species, are required to be
microchipped), makes sure to use numbers with plenty of eights in their microchip tag numbers, and appears to reserve particular numbers especially rich in eights and sixes (e.g., 702088880006688) for particularly valuable specimens. • As part of grand opening promotions, a Commerce Bank branch in
New York's Chinatown raffled off safety deposit box No. 888. • An "auspicious" numbering system was adopted by the developers of
39 Conduit Road Hong Kong, where the top floor was "88" – Chinese for double fortune. It is already common in Hong Kong for ~4th floors not to exist; there is no requirement by the Buildings Department for numbering other than that it being "made in a logical order." A total of 43 intermediate floor numbers are omitted from 39 Conduit Road: those missing include 14, 24, 34, 54, 64, all floors between 40 and 49; the floor number which follows 68 is 88. • Similar to the common Western practice of using "9" for price points, it is common to see "8" being used in its place to achieve the same
psychological effect. So for example menu prices like $58, $88 are frequently seen. ==Nine==