2008 was supposed to be a lucky year. Leap years are generally considered fortunate years more so with the number 8 (八ba) which is considered an auspicious number because it sounds like luck (fa)… One of the reasons the Olympics games’ opening date was chosen as the 8 of august 2008 at 8.08pm.
However since the beginning of the year, China hasn’t been so lucky. It all started with the biggest snow storm on January 25th (2+5+1=8) followed by the demonstration in T1b3t on March 14th (1+4+3=8) and then the Sichuan earthquake on May 12th (1+2+5=8) or 88 days before the opening ceremony…. Let’s hope that the series end here and that the Olympics games are a success.
Besides the number 8 being targeted as not being as lucky as previously expected, the Fuwa seem also linked to this year events. A rumor on the net is stating that the Fuwa could be unlucky characters as well (“bring bad luck”). YingYing (yellow) the T1bet@n antelope is linked to the demonstration in Lh@s@. JingJing (black) represents a panda from Sichuan where the earthquake happened last month, HuanHuan (Red) which represents the flam and its more than chaotic route, Nini (green) the swallow that looks like a kite is linked to the deadly train crash on April 28 in Weifang which is the capital of kite, and let’s not forget BeiBei (blue) the fish and the flooding in southern and central China which claimed dozens of lives in June.
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| they look so harmless |
Posts on the internet about the superstition have been removed by China’s censors monitor. Although the Communist Party has tried to stamp out “feudal superstition” since it took power in 1949, the Beijing Games will start on the auspicious moment of 8.08pm on August 8, 2008.
Major calamities, earthquakes in particular, were viewed in imperial China as a sign that a dynasty had lost the mandate of Heaven.
