Come in number four...

...your time is up
The Chinese consider the number four to be unlucky (I've a feeling they have a similar downer on six as well); conversely number eight is the new number seven. In many/ most apartment blocks, there's no fourth floor - just as in the States there's sometimes no thirteenth floor. However, it's not just four that's affected in China but any floor with four in it - so 14 and 24 (and so on) are cut too. As a nod of respect to us Westerners, 13 is chopped as well. And for the Fiji islanders 2, 7 and 11 are removed, while 17 and 18 are offensive to Bolivians and so those are often missed too. Some so-called 'skyscrapers' here are barely five stories high.

So it was a surprise to take the elevator in a block the other day and see it pass number four - even if it is on the way down.