Goldman Pegs China's GDP at Lucky Number 8

8-8-08 Opening Ceremony

From FT:
Goldman Sachs has hiked its forecasts for Chinese GDP and reckons the magical growth figure of 8 per cent could be reached this year.  The bank says better than expected results from November’s huge fiscal stimulus package and aggressive policy easing are behind its upgrade.

Maybe Goldman understands this or maybe not, but 8% GDP for China is the best number they could have possibly picked for the Chinese (they actually say 8.3% for ’09 and 10.9% growth in ’10).

The number 8 has massive significance in Chinese culture.  They have several numbers which they consider to be lucky for different reasons, but 8 is the most important lucky number as it pertains to business.

In fact, the very pronunciation of their word for eight sounds just like their word for prosper or wealth.  In the Cantonese dialect, the word for eight sounds just like the word for fortune as well.

The Chinese specifically started the Beijing Summer Olympics on 8/8/08 at 8 minutes, 8 seconds past 8 pm.  See, I wasn’t kidding, they love them some 8 and Goldman’s forecast may just prove to be fortunate after all!

If China can ramp back up to 8 plus percentage GDP growth and over 10% next year, there may be an economy to make money in for investors after all.  Now I gotta relearn all those China stock symbols again….dammit!

One last 8 example…

From Wikipedia:
A telephone number with all digits being eights was sold for USD $270,723 in Chengdu, China.

Full Story:  Some more green shoots, China edition