Context:

My informant is a 19-year-old student living in Orange County, California. She was raised in a Chinese household, celebrating holidays such as Chinese New Year.

Text:

“The number 4 in Chinese, even regardless if it’s like Mandarin, which is like sì, or if Cantonese, then it’s like sei. It has a very similar pronunciation to the word that means dead or die. So like in Cantonese it’s like sei (she says it with an down note at the end) is four and sei (she says it with an up note at the end) is like dead. So that’s why like people don’t like using the number 4. So like for Chinese New Year for example, we don’t like giving four bills in like a red envelope. Or you don’t do things in increments of 4 because it’s considered bad luck.”

Analysis:

Hearing about this folk belief/superstition after learning so much about Chinese culture, I have gathered that they do not like to associate with death in any way. Whether it is something that resembles death such as a simple pronunciation or interacting with death in any way. I think that the Chinese culture just wants to bring prosperity into their lives in any way possible, which means rejecting the bad luck from associations with death.