This phenomena has traveled to the United States now as well. Observe the number of personalized automobile license plates ordered by Chinese with the numbers eight or nine, which of course signal the dear symbols of longevity and prosperity for the owners. The year 1988, the year of the Dragon, witnessed an incredible interest in numerology. Throngs of Chinese women rushed to the hospital on the final days of that year, requesting Caesarean deliveries so their child would be born a Dragon child with double prosperity blessing. There are also numbers you want to avoid.
Some numbers are bad luck when they are combined with other numbers.
For example, Chin and Ng are both common Chinese surnames. The possible omens associated with numbers and sounds of numbers by the Chinese, and in particular the Cantonese, is inexhaustible. And so, let us all count our good fortune that this year's Chinese Summer Festival falls in 1998, a date linked with longevity and prosperity. By Lim Mar, reprinted from 1998 Chinese Summer Festival program. The only reason that I can think of is because it is mentioned in the I Ching , pronounced E Ching.