From Reuters, via tvnz.co.nz (link):
That Beijing organisers have chosen to mark 800 days to the start of the 2008 Olympics on Wednesday will come no surprise to those familiar with the power of numbers in China.
Auspicious numbers have long played a part in Chinese culture – witness the 9,999 rooms of Beijing’s Forbidden City – and the right digits can still play a role in the choice of a home, telephone number or even a birthday.