9. The Chinese power of nine

Our festive countdown, extracted from Rogerson's Book of Numbers, considers why the number nine has powerful resonance in China

Nine has always been respected by the Chinese, for it has tonal resonance with "long-lasting" and was also associated with the emperor, who had nine dragons embroidered on his robes and ruled over a court divided between nine ranks of courtiers who could gain nine sorts of reward.

This respect for the power of nine led to many social listings of nine, often charged with an observant sense of humour, as well as the more serious concept of how individuals were bound ninefold to their family, clan and community.

Here are the Nine Admirable Social Habits:
• Relieving tension
• Courteous attention
• Discreet mention
• Tenacious retention
• Assiduousness
• Wise abstention
• Calculated prevention
• Truthful intervention
• A sense of dimension.

The Nine Virtues:
As defined for the near-legendary Emperor Yu (2205–2100BC) by his chief minister Kao-Yao.
• Affability combined with dignity
• Mildness with firmness
• Bluntness with respectfulness
• Ability with reverence
• Docility with boldness
• Straightforwardness with gentleness
• Easiness with discrimination
• Vigour with sincerity
• Valour with goodness.

The Nine Follies:
• To think oneself immortal
• To think investments are secure
• To mistake conventional good manners for friendship
• To expect any reward for doing right
• To imagine the rich regard you as an equal
• To continue to drink after you have begun to declare that you are sober
• To recite your own verse
• To lend money and expect its return
• To travel with too much luggage.

The Nine Jollities of a Peasant:
• To laugh
• To fight
• To fill the stomach
• To forget
• To sing
• To take vengeance
• To discuss
• To boast
• To fall asleep.

The Nine Deplorable Public Habits:
• Drunkenness
• Dirtiness
• Shuffling
• Over-loud voice
• Scratching
• Unpunctuality
• Peevishness
• Spitting
• Repeated jests.

And the Nine Final Griefs:
• Disappointed expectations
• Irretrievable loss
• Inevitable fatigue
• Unanswered prayers
• Unrequited service
• Ineradicable doubt
• Perpetual dereliction
• Death
• Judgment.

Reference and languagesChinaNumeracyBarnaby Rogerson
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