If you have arranged a hotel room for your Chinese clients and the room number is 444, the deal is off almost for sure. The clients may think very badly about your intention. You want to have a room number associated with 8. The number 4 is a big taboo when you are dealing with Korean and Chinese, not a bad sign for Japanese, a culture that celebrates death. The pronounciation of 4 in Chinese language is almost the same as death, except the tones. Obviously, the 8th floor apartment is much better than the 4th floor apt.
The same rules arpply to gift giving: if you give a set of fancy knives as closing gift to your buyers, you will never expect them to call you again. Giving knife can mean that they should kill themselves!
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