The official countdown has begun, both for me and for China. For China, the Olympics will open in Beijing in 44 days; for me, I will be leaving China and moving back to the United States in 35 days. The Olympics will open here in Beijing via a spectacular ceremony on a very auspicious date, August 8, 2008, or 8/8/8 at 8:08 PM. Eight is a very lucky number in Chinese culture. Chinese is a monosyllabic language, utilizing four separate tones to indicate differences in meaning between words with the same pronunciation. The word for "eight" in Chinese is "ba", which sounds similar to another Chinese word meaning wealth or prosper. Placing 88 side by side also resembles the Chinese characters for double happiness, which are often used at wedding ceremonies. While eight is lucky, four
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