- Chinese numbered policies
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One distinctive element of Chinese political discourse is the use of numbered policies in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. The use of numbers to refer to policies dates from pre-modern China. Examples include:
1
- One-child policy
- One-China policy
- One country, two systems
- One state on each side
2
3
- Three Antis
- Three Communiques
- Three Evils
- Three Links
- Three Noes
- Three Principles of the People
- Three Red Banners
- Three Represents
- Three Rural Issues
- Three Stages of Revolution
4
- Four Cardinal Principles
- Four Cleanups Movement
- Four Modernizations
- Four Noes and One Without
- Four Olds (or Four Old Things)
- Four-Stage Theory of the Republic of China
5
- Five Antis
- Five Black Categories
- Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
- Five Races Under One Union
- Five Red Categories
- Five-Year Plans of China
- 5 Jiang 4 Mei 3 Reai
6
8
- Eight Do's and Don'ts
9
- Stinking Ninth Category
10
12
- Twelve New Development Projects
14
- Fourteen Major Construction Projects
60
- Sixty Points on Working Methods
Other non-political numbered concepts
Ever since the Imperial era, many Chinese concepts have been named by numbers, a practice still common today. Numbered names can be found in histories, literature titles, lists, and other social aspects. This is a typical method of naming concepts in China.
Concepts
- Three enclosures
- Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar
- Four Books
- Four Books and Five Classics
- "Four Big Things" (四大件)
- Four Great Inventions
- Four occupations
- Four Gentlemen
- Four Symbols (Chinese constellation)
- Wu Hu
- Eight Deliberations
- Eight Immortals
- Eight-legged essay
- Eight model plays
- Eight-Nation Alliance
- Eight Trigrams Formation
- Ten Abominations
- Ten Crimes of Qin
- Baidu Ten Mythical Creatures
- Qi Xi
- Twenty-eight mansions
- Hundred Family Surnames
- Ten thousand cuts, death by
- Ten thousand years ("Wansui")
Locations and buildings
People
- Four Beauties
- The Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop
- Four Young Dan actresses (四小花旦)
- Seven great singing stars
- Seven Little Fortunes
- Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
- Eight Elders
- Eight Masters of Nanjing
- Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou
- Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup
- Ten Attendants
- Three Kingdoms
- Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
- Three Departments and Six Ministries
- Three Lords and Nine Ministers
- Three Ducal Ministers
- Five Dynasties History
- Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
- Five Elite Generals
- Five Tiger Generals
- Seven Warring States
- Nine Ministers
- Ten Great Campaigns
- Sixteen Kingdoms
- Hundred Flowers Campaign
Traditional Chinese medicine
Sexagenary cycle and Chinese astrology
- Twelve Earthly Branches
- Ten Celestial stems
- Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
- Ba gua
- Four Pillars of Destiny
Literature, film and music
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Four Great Classical Novels
- Si mian chu ge
- Ten Brothers
- Shi mian mai fu ("Ambush from ten sides"; this is also the original title of Zhang Yimou's film House of Flying Daggers)
- Twenty-Four Histories
- Qian Yan Wan Yu, original title of the film Ordinary Heroes
In language
Numbers appear frequently in chengyu, Chinese four-character idiomatic expressions.[original research?] For example, 成千上万 (cheng qian shang wan, "thousands upon thousands", literally "become thousand, rise over ten thousand"), 三心二意 (san xin er yi, "half-heartedly", literally "three heart two meaning"), 乱七八糟 (luan qi ba zao, "in a mess, every which way", literally "chaos seven eight mess"), and 胡说八道 (hu shuo ba dao, "to speak nonsense", literally "confused speak eight paths") all contain numbers.
The word 千万 (qianwan, "absolutely") is made up of the numbers 1000 and 10,000.
See also
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