China's lucky numbers.Achieving China's new middle-class dream means owning a car. But the car is not always enough: A license plate with lucky numbers has become almost as much of a status symbol as the vehicle itself. In Chinese culture, the luckiest number is 8; the unluckiest is 4. Many people were resorting to bribery bribery Crime of giving a benefit (e.g., money) in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust (e.g., an official or witness). Accepting a bribe also constitutes a crime. to obtain lucky numbers, so officials in southern China decided to put plates up for public auction. In Guangzhou last July, plate AC6688 fetched $10,000; one young man snagged snag n. 1. A rough, sharp, or jagged protuberance, as: a. A tree or a part of a tree that protrudes above the surface in a body of water. Also called sawyer. See Regional Note at preacher. b. A snaggletooth. APY APY See: Annual Percentage Yield 888 for $6,750. "Since I have a nice car, I thought I should get a nice plate," he said. But Zhao Shu, chairman of the China Folk Art folk art, the art works of a culturally homogeneous people produced by artists without formal training. The forms of such works are generally developed into a tradition that is either cut off from or tenuously connected to the contemporary cultural mainstream. and Literature Association, says the obsession with lucky plates is a gross distortion of Chinese tradition. "It shows a very superficial culture," says Zhao. "It's bragging by the new rich." |
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