Chinese people abhor the number 4 and adore the number 8, which has several odd consequences for their lifestyle. "Four" sounds the same as the Chinese character for death, while "eight" resembles the sound of the character that means "earn money." The Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 began on Aug. 8 at 8:08 p.m. and 8 seconds. In one province in China in 2006, a license plate containing the numbers "88888" sold for 1.66 million yuan (around W285 million), while an airline in Sichuan Province uses the phone number 8888-8888 purchased for 2.61 million yuan.

In contrast, the Chinese shun the number 4 to the extent that no automobile license plate contains it, while in Hong Kong, many buildings have no floors containing the number. In October, a 6,158 sq. ft. residential space on the 68th floor of the "Conduit 39" apartment on Hong Kong island sold for HK$439 million (around W65.7 billion), which was the highest price paid per unit area in the territory. The numbers 5 and 7 are also unpopular.

The building's actual height is just 46 stories, but developers advertised it as being 88 floors tall, which earned them a warning from Hong Kong authorities. The reason behind the massively inflated height is because the building has no fourth, 14th, 24th and 34th floors and did away with floors 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 altogether. And starting on the 61st floor, the building jumps up to floors 63, 66, 68 and 88.

Hong Kong's International Commerce Centre, set to open in March, also has fewer floors than it makes out. The skyscraper is advertised as being 118 stories high, but from the lobby to the roof, there are only 100 floors, 104 if the lower arcade areas are included and 109 if the underground parking levels are added. That building has no fourth, 14th, 24th and 34th floors or 40 to 49th floors. That is why the so-called 118-story building, which is 484 m in height, is actually shorter than the Tapei 101, which stands 508 m tall. The Chinese sound of the number 118 has the same meaning as "make money every day."