道生一,一生二,二生三,三生万物) [12]. Therefore, in Chinese there arise many idiomatic phrases, like 三教九流,三思而后行,三人行必有我师焉,余音绕梁,三日不绝,一日不见,如隔三秋,and the like. Number “three” indicates perfection and completeness. The idiom“三生有幸”expresses that a person is fortunate all his life. Here“ 三生”refers to the previous life, present life and next life.
And, Christianity, as the mainstream culture, has a strong influence in the cultural connotation of numbers in western countries. The religious tradition of the Christian Trinity, that is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has endowed a mysterious number “three” with divinity and perfection. [13] The widespread interest of number “three” still remains in the westerner’s mind or thinking today. Many things that are particularly complete are stamped with number “three” in the areas like physics, mathematics, philosophy and so forth. There are three completing time, that is, past, present and future. Similarly, number “seven”, a number with strong religious colour, is used frequently in the Bible, indicating that God spent seven days in Creation. At times it has reference to bring a work toward completion, or it can refer to the complete cycle of things as established or allowed by God. There are plenty of idioms or idiomatic usages with “seven” in English culture, such as, the Seven Virtues, including Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance; the Seven Deadly Sins, saying, Pride, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Sloth; the Seven champions of Christendom, the seven days of creation, the Seventh Heaven, and so on. And, according to the Bible, number “six” at times represents imperfection. The number of “the wild beast” is 666 and is called “a man’s number”(Re13:18), indicating that it has to do with imperfect, fallen man, and it seems to symbolize the imperfection of that which is represented by “the wild beast”. The number six being emphasized to a third degree (the six appearing in the position of units, tens, and hundreds) therefore highlights the imperfection and deficiency of that which the beast represents, or pictures [14].
Number “thirteen” is regarded as an evil number, standing for “unfortunate”. According to the Scripture, Judah, the thirteenth comer during the last supper, betrayed Jesus. Hence, people in western countries avoid “13” in many aspects of life. People avoid a room numbered 13, a seat in the 13th row of an airplane or renting a flat on the 13th floor [15]. And in a few instances periods of judgment or punishment seem to be associated with number “forty”. Nineveh was given forty days to repent. The world was flooded for forty days for people’s evil-doing. So forty is a number denoting bad luck to the westerners [16].
Numbers and mythology
Mythology associated with numbers in both Chinese and English culture has deeply influenced the cultural connotations of numbers. In Chinese, the cultural connotations of numbers have connection with the ancient myth. For instance, four character words “三头六臂”originated from Chinese myth, narrating a supernatural being. Nezha, who takes charge of the justice, has three heads and six arms. He has vastly magic power to transform himself into three at random. Accordingly, number “three” is endowed with cultural connotations of magic and power.
And, English cultures have been more strongly affected by the Greek and Roman mythology, whose gods resemble the character of humans with feelings and desires, happiness and sadness. In Roman myth
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