The understanding of certain culture is essential to learn the language better. In the broad, profound and outstanding Chinese culture, the culture of number is also very important. In ancient China, there was the theory of yin and yang and nine is the pole number of yang number, that is to say, the biggest number of the odd number. Therefore, the number nine was used and attached with the emperors and many things related to the emperors also have relationship with nine. For examples, the throne of emperors is called Jiu Wu and the emperors were called Jiu Wu Zhi Zun.
In order to broaden the cultural knowledge of the foreign learners about the number nine, several items related to the number nine will be listed in the following parts. There was a kind of bronze ware called nine tripod cauldrons and nine ministers were set around the emperors. Among the officials appointed by the emperors, there was a title called Jiu Pin Zhong Zheng. The most attractive thing should be the number of the house in the Forbidden City which is 9990 and a half. In the gate tower of Tian’an Men, the number of house in each side is nine.
If the foreigners have ever visited some famous attractions in Beijing such as the Forbidden City, the Imperial Garden and the place when they are learning Mandarin Chinese in China, they might have noticed that the number of the doornail is nine in both vertical and horizontal directions, making it 81 in total. In Qing Dynasty, each ministers of Mongolia should pay tribute of eight white horses and one white camel to emperors, calling Jiu Bai Zhi Gong. In addition, the other tributes were also counted with nine.
In Kangxi period, he ordered the tribes like Khorchin should pay tribute of twelve nine, totally 105 sheep and 108 bottles of koumiss. For the tribe Ordos, the number of the tribute was nine nine, making it 81 sheep and 81 bottles of koumiss. In the past, the construction of temple was also closely related to the number nine.
If the emperors in Qing Dynasty celebrated the birthday, the foods and fruits presented should be 99 species. In addition, the large recreational activities were essential, also 81 kinds of activities. As time went by, the number nine was monopolized by the emperors. As a result, the ordinary people and the officials should not use the number nine in daily life.