奇思妙想：看老外眼中的中国数字

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　　1314 - Forever (一生一世), as the pronunciation of "1314" is close to "一生一世" (in Mandarin). At one stage, 520 1314 was a very romantic number since "520" is close to 我愛您 (I love you in Mandarin), so 520 1314, (meaning I love you for eternity) was a very romantic 7-digit phone number.

　　518 - I will prosper (literally "prosperous without worries"); other variations include: 5189 (I will prosper for a long time), 516289 (I will get on a long, smooth prosperous road) and 5918 (I will soon prosper).

　　14 - is considered to be one of the unluckiest numbers in Chinese culture. Although 14 is usually said as "shi si," which sounds like "ten die", it can also be said as "yi si" or "yao si", literally "one four". Thus, 14 can also be said as "yao si," literally "one four," but it also means "want to die" (要死 pinyin yào sǐ).

　　250 - if it is read in a certain way, it means imbecile in Mandarin. 二百五 (èr bǎi wǔ) reading means imbecile, while alternative ways such as 两百五 (lǐang bǎi wǔ) or 二百五十 (èr bǎi wǔ shí) means 250. The difference lies with the rule that 两 should be used in the place of 二 to mean 2 when directly before a measure word (百, in this case.)

　　9413 - "九死一生" ("Gau Sei Yat Saang" in Cantonese), meaning 90% chance of being dead and only 10% chance of being alive.