Chinese Airline Buys Number ’88888888′

An airline in southwestern China has paid $282,000 for the phone number “88888888,” saying it hopes to make its customers happy.

Many Chinese consider the number “eight” to be lucky because it rhymes with the Chinese word for getting rich.

“Everyone at the company believes the number was worth the price we paid,” said Xing Bing, of Sichuan Airlines’ corporate culture department.

Xing said the number, to be used as a customer-service hotline, had already had a “good advertising effect.”

The use of such traditional practices as choosing lucky numbers and consulting “feng shui” experts has become common in recent years, though communist authorities frown on what they deem “feudal superstitions.”

Yet the auction was officially sanctioned, with proceeds to go to charity.

Buying the number was not a way of promoting superstition but of pleasing customers, Xing said.

“The number is easy to remember,” she said. “It’s a number that will make customers happy when they call.”