Hong Kong expats in the UK boost demand for lucky mobile numbers

An influx of Hong Kong expats into London is boosting demand for "lucky" mobile phone numbers, according to experts.

The number 8 is considered lucky in Hong Kong, where it sounds like the word for prosperity in Mandarin. Hong Kongers often pay high prices for phone numbers with lots of 8s and consider them to be auspicious. That belief has now spread to Hong Kong expats living in London as they seek good fortune with their new homes abroad.

The number eight is regarded as the luckiest in Hong Kong because the Mandarin word for it sounds similar to the word for prosperity.

In Hong Kong culture, the number eight is regarded as the luckiest because it sounds similar to the word for prosperity. In Mandarin, "bá" means eight and sounds like "fa," which means good fortune or wealth. The number eight also has a special meaning in numerology because it's associated with infinity—which is a good thing.

Neil Launer from O2 said: "We've noticed that the number eight has become increasingly popular with our customer base of Hong Kong expats."

"We've noticed that the number eight has become increasingly popular with our customer base of Hong Kong expats," said Neil Launer from O2. "They like it because it is phonetically similar to a word which sounds like prosperity."

The number 8 is a lucky number in China, unlike 6 or 4 which sound like negative words (to lose money, or to die respectively). The lucky mobile numbers sell for up to £20 each and are often imported into Britain by friends or family members who have already made their fortune.

A spokesman for EE said: "Numbers appearing in succession are most desirable as they are easy to remember."

This is not just because the numbers in a sequence are easy to remember; any sequence of numbers will be easier to memorize than a random assortment of digits, or even those that don’t follow a pattern. For example, the number “2-5-8” is easier to recall than “5-7-9” because it has an obvious pattern (the first two digits go up by 1 while the last two decrease by 1). The same applies if you were asked which number would come after “6″? You might say “7″ but there is also no reason why someone couldn't respond with "8," so again, it's clear that sequential patterns are easier for us to process mentally than non sequiturs.

While the price of most mobile numbers remains static, a select few become valued assets which can sell for tens of thousands of pounds.

One such example is the number 88. It has appeared in multiple Hollywood movies and was used by Michael Jackson as part of his stage name before he passed away in 2009.

For those who like their phone numbers to be memorable, 007 also makes an appearance on this list at £14,500 - perhaps a little steep for just a number?

In 2008 the number 666 6666 reportedly sold for £13,000, while in 2013 a Briton spent £15,000 on a combination that read 555-555-555.

It's not always about the money. Some people believe that certain numbers are lucky, and that belief is behind the rise of pricey phone numbers. The number 666 6666 reportedly sold for £13,000 in 2008, while in 2013 a Briton spent £15,000 on a combination that read 555-555-555—a string of digits so long it had to be broken into two parts: 555-5555 and 555-5556.

In some cases this superstition comes from Christianity; according to some interpretations of the Bible's Book of Revelation, 666 is "the mark" of the beast (or Antichrist), which some think refers to Satan. And since most Westerners don't know enough Asian languages or have time to learn them all before making such purchases, they're more likely than others across Asia who speak more than one language—which are often harder ones like Cantonese or Mandarin because they use characters instead of alphabets—to find something special just by chance."

Chinese people look at numbers in interesting ways.

Chinese people like numbers that sound positive, and they like them to be easy to remember. They also prefer a series of numbers that can be easily remembered, such as the lucky number 888 (pronounced "ba"), which stands for prosperity.

In contrast, in Western culture, we give lucky numbers less significance but compensate for this with numbers that have cultural or symbolic meaning—420 anybody?