Isn’t 13 an unlucky number in China?

Published: May 29, 2014 at 6:58pm

This morning, a delegation composed of 13 Chinese men in business suits took a tour of the Palace Armoury in Valletta, hosted by Enemalta and the Ministry of Health and Energy.




33 Comments Comment

  1. Alexander Ball says:

    Quite a lot of chinks in the armour, then.

  2. arguzin says:

    The number 13 is considered unlucky for many people in the West. This is not the case among many Chinese,the reason being that 13, which is pronounced as “shisan” in Mandarin, can mean ‘definitely vibrant’. So how can this be an unlucky number? The Minister of Phenomenal Affairs must have been buzzing with excitement in the company of the Chinese delegation.

  3. Connor Attard says:

    I believe it’s more of a Western superstition if anything. The unlucky number in oriental cultures is 4, as far as I know.

    But more relevantly: let’s give a warm welcome to our new Chinese overlords!

  4. silvio says:

    Wow. I hope they are not considering selling the Armoury to the Chinese?

  5. Mark Thorogood says:

    Actually 13 isn’t unlucky in China – 4 is the equivalent as the word sounds like death.

  6. Mallia says:

    Maybe the energy minister’s wife’s first contribution: sending Chinese tourists over, still in their business suits.

  7. canon says:

    Are these 13 Chinese men going to have a Maltese understudy?

  8. Kevin says:

    Four is unlucky for the Chinese. That’s why Muscat aimed only for three seats.

  9. edgar says:

    Don’t tell me that it is up for sale .

  10. C Falzon says:

    As far as I know 13 is actually considered a lucky number by the Chinese, with 4 and 14 being the unlucky ones I know about.

    • bob-a-job says:

      No. It’s considered unlucky in fact some high rise buildings in China skip floor 13 and go from 12 directly to 14.

      13 is considered lucky in most Eastern countries but not in China.

    • A+ says:

      How many thousands of Euros does Mrs Mizzi earn per month?

    • Tabatha White says:

      Anything with 4 because the Chinese word for four rhymes with the Chinese word for death.

  11. Paddling Duck says:

    It is in North Korea too. Kim Jong Un’s cars all start with 13.

  12. observer says:

    I would hope that Comrade Mizzi did not fail to tell them about the 52+ percentage score he got in yesterday’s survey in The Malta Independent.

    • Angus Black says:

      Maybe it has something to do with the year 2052 which, by coincidence is the Chinese “Year of the Monkey”?

    • rosie says:

      I get hypertension just from watching him speak. Fenominalment antipatiku. The future looks bleak ,when someone like that can become so popular.

  13. Tarzan says:

    According to Wikipedia, the number 13 has no special meaning in Chinese tradition.

    0-2-3-5-6-7-49-8-9 are lucky numbers.
    4 and 6 are Chinese unlucky numbers

  14. bob-a-job says:

    ‘Chinese men in business suits took a tour of the Palace Armoury’

    They were shown the original ‘Suldati tal-azzar’.

    Like the most recent one, they are hollow inside.

  15. Chinese says:

    Numbers with 4 (such as 4, 14 & 40) considered unlucky in China because the pronunciation of these numbers is similar to that of the word “death”.

    However, any Chinese would not pick the number 13 either if one can have a choice.

    If a Chinese tells you that someone is “13 dian “, it means that person referred is a nut case/crazy.

    Being “13”(crazy) or being “250” (stupid), anyone?

  16. Chinese says:

    Numbers with 4 (such as 4, 14 & 40) are considered unlucky in China because the pronunciation of these numbers is similar to that of the word “death”.

    However, any Chinese would not pick the number 13 either if one can have a choice.

    If a Chinese tells you that someone is “13 dian “, it means that person referred to is a nut case/crazy.

    Being “13”(crazy) or being “250” (stupid), anyone?

  17. aidan says:

    For one Chinese woman married to a Maltese cabinet minister, the lucky number is 13,000.

  18. Dissident says:

    88 is the lucky number in China

  19. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Oh really? They were probably thinking what a waste of good steel.

    And we gush at their terracotta army. Stupid whites.

  20. Pepe` says:

    I don’t think Sai Mizzi is too bothered about her 13K-a-month salary.

  21. J. Borg says:

    In China the number 8 is the luckiest number. That is why the Beijing Olimpics where inaugurated on 08/08/08.

  22. Censu says:

    Spies. Assessing our defence capabilities before launching an invasion.

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