Just like Westerners, Chinese do share a love of lucky numbers and other superstitious beliefs, although in quite a different manner. It is part of the Chinese culture. Sometimes you can see how some people are willing to part with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, simply to obtain lucky telephone, residence floor (in a multi-story building), driver's license number, vehicle license plate number, bank account number, etc. In Chinese culture, certain numbers are believed by some to be auspicious (吉利) or inauspicious (不利) based on the Chinese word that the number name sounds similar to. However some Chinese people regard these beliefs to be superstitions. Since the pronunciation and the vocabulary may be different in different Chinese dialects, the rules are generally not applicable for all cases.

Lucky numbers are based on Chinese words that sound similar to other Chinese words. The numbers 6, 8, and 9 are believed to have auspicious meanings because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings. The telephone number 8888-8888 is said to have sold for $270,723 in Chengdu, a southwest Chinese city. The Beijing Olympics 2008, on the other hand, opened on August 8, 2008 (08-08-08) at 8:08 p.m.

The obsession with numbers takes place not only in China, but also other cities like Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Do not try competing for numbers such as 8 in any of these cities. Chances are that you will be out-beaten, if your pocket is not deep enough!
Chinese like to link numbers to pronunciations of the associated words. They first see how a number is sounded, then associate it to words that share similar pronunciation and interpret the number from there.

Luckier numbers

Two

The number 2 (二 or 两, Pinyin: èr or liăng) is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying "good things come in pairs". It is common to use double symbols in product brandnames, e.g. double happiness, double coin, double elephants etc.

Three

The number 3 (三, Pinyin: sān) sounds similar to the character for "birth" (生, Pinyin: shēng), and is thus considered a lucky number.

Five

The number 5 (五, Pinyin: wŭ) is associated with the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth and metal) in Chinese philosophy, and in turn was historically associated with the Emperor of China. For example, the Tiananmen gate, being the main thoroughfare to the Forbidden City, has five arches. It is also referred to as the pronoun "I", as the pronunciations of "I" (我, Pinyin: wŏ) and 5 are similar in Mandarin.

Six

The number 6 (六, Pinyin: liù) in Mandarin is pronounced the same as 溜(Pinyin: liù) and similar to "fluid" (流, Pinyin: liú ) and is therefore considered good for business. The number 6 also represents happiness and smooth.

Seven

The number 7 (七, Pinyin: qī) symbolizes "togetherness". It is a lucky number for relationships. It is also recognized as the luckiest number in the West, and is one of the rare numbers that is great in both Chinese and many Western cultures. It is a lucky number in Chinese culture, because it sounds alike to the Chinese character 起 (Pinyin: qǐ) meaning arise. In Mandarin, it can also mean wife. So 517 can mean 'I want a wife'; as the number 5 sounds like 'I' and the number 1 sounds like 'want'.

Eight

The word for "eight"(八, Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发-short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar.

The Horseshoe Casino, in Hammond, Indiana, USA, also chose 08/08/08 as the opening date for its new facility.

A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for RMB 1.12 million (roughly USD164,000).

The value of eight could also be linked with buddhism and the meaning of Lotus flower (eight petals).

As part of grand opening promotions, a Commerce Bank branch in New York's Chinatown raffled off safety deposit box #888.

An "auspicious" numbering system was adopted by the developers of 39 Conduit Road Hong Kong, where the top floor was "88" - Chinese for double fortune. It is already common in Hong Kong for ~4th floors not to exist; there is no requirement by the Buildings Department for numbering other than that it being "made in a logical order."A total of 42 intermediate floor numbers are omitted from 39 Conduit Road: those missing include 14, 24, 34, 64, all floors between 40 and 59; the floor number which follows 68 is 88.

Nine

The number 9 (九, Pinyin: jiŭ), being the greatest of single-digit numbers, was historically associated with the Emperor of China; the Emperor's robes often had nine dragons, and Chinese mythology held that the dragon has nine children.Moreover, the number 9 is a homophone of the word for "longlasting" (久), and as such is often used in weddings.

Unlucky number

Four

Number 4 (四,pinyin: sì) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese culture because it is nearly homophonous to the word "death" (死 pinyin sǐ). Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the "4": e.g. Nokia cell phones (there is no series beginning with a 4), Canon PowerShot G's series (after G3 goes G5), etc. In Hong Kong, some high-rise residential buildings miss ALL floor numbers with "4"(Compare with the American practice of some buildings not having a 13th floor because 13 is considered unlucky.), e.g. 4, 14, 24, 34 and all 40-49 floors. As a result, a building whose highest floor is number 50 may actually have only 36 physical floors. In Singapore during the early 2000s, Alfa Romeo introduced a new model, the 144. Due to poor sales, the company changed the model number of the product.

Not every number can be generalized. It depends on whether the person is interpreting it from Mandarin or one of the several Chinese dialects. In addition to sound, numbers can also be interpreted from other angles.
For example, the number 18 is popular. This is because the number 1 -- when positioned in tens -- sounds like “definite”. The number 18, which is pronounced as shiba in Mandarin, becomes “definitely prosperous”. On the other hand, some may see 18 as “1 plus 8”, which adds up to the lucky number 9. The number, therefore, is also in high demand.
Number 14 is considered to be one of the unluckiest numbers. Although 14 is usually said in Mandarin as 十四 "shí sì," which sounds like 十死 "ten die", it can also be said as 一四 "yī sì" or 么四 "yāo sì", literally "one four". Thus, 14 can also be said as "yāo sì," literally "one four," but it also sounds like "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.)

168: Similar with the phrase "一路发", which means "fortune all the way."

7456: 7456 (qī sì wǔ liù) sounds marginally like "气死我了"　(qì-sǐ wǒ -le, "to make me angry," "to piss me off"), and is sometimes used in Internet slang.