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Couple Bet On Lucky 8/8/08

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Los Angeles Times

Published: August 8, 2008

Lest anyone forget Jeff Tsao's and Christine Chung's wedding date, the Los Angeles-area couple stamped a logo with three interlocking eights across posters, T-shirts and party favors made especially for the affair.

Family and friends overseas who couldn't make it to the ceremony in Orange County, Calif., gifted the soon-to-be-weds with lucky Chinese envelopes stuffed with $888.

The pair agreed on four groomsmen and four bridesmaids.

And to no one's surprise, the reception was scheduled for 8 p.m.

"I can't help it," said Tsao, 26, who is American-born Chinese and grew up in Newport Beach, Calif. "It's something my parents instilled in me. I can't relate to stuff like lucky socks or rabbit's feet."

For some, the arrival of today's numerical anomaly - 8/8/08 - marks an irresistible alignment of Chinese culture's most celebrated number.

Eight in Cantonese, "baat," sounds like the word for prosperity, "faat," which extends to connote all things lucky. It explains the abundance of eights in phone numbers belonging to Chinese and the scores of Chinese businesses that feature an eight.

It is also why China's Olympic planners chose to kick off the games on Aug. 8 at 8:08 p.m.

The combination of fortuitous timing and the start of the historic sporting event would figure to command significance in the Chinese community equal to, say, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July and the Super Bowl rolled into one.

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