Taipei - Ten lucky-sounding cellphone numbers fetched billions of dollars at a charity auction in Taipei on Wednesday.
Chunghwa Telecom put up 10 lucky-sounding cellphone numbers for auction to raise money for charity causes. All the numbers have "8" in them which sounds like "fa", which means "to become rich", "make money" and "make a fortune".
The starting price for the cellphone numbers was 50 000 Taiwan dollars, but many people placed bids and the prices kept soaring.
The luckiest cellphone number - 0988-888-888 - was sold for 6.3 million Taiwan dollars.
Pronounced in the Taiwanese dialect, "0988-888-888" sounds like: "You will make money, make money, make money, make money, make money, make money, make money, make money."
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The next-highest bid went to 0988-168-168, which sounds like: "You will make money, make money, make money all the way, make money all the way."
Another cellphone number - 0988-555-888 - was sold for 412 000 Taiwan dollars. It sounds like: "You will make money, make money, I, I, I, make money, make money, make money."
The 10 cellphone numbers fetched a total of 100 billion Taiwan dollars, Chunghwa Telecom said.
Many Chinese believe lucky-sounding names and numbers can bring good fortune. Therefore, cellphone numbers and car plates with "8" fetch high prices, while car plates and cellphone numbers with "4" have a hard sell because "4" sounds like "death" in Chinese.
As "4" is an unlucky number, Chinese avoid saying "4" during the Chinese New Year holidays, and some Taiwan apartment buildings do not have a 4th floor. The lift goes from the 3rd floor right to the 5th floor. - Sapa-DPA
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