18 generations
Any significance in the number? Being China there has to be, right?
I was curious, so I asked my husband about this one. We were talking about how, back in dynastic times, if the emperor had it out for someone he'd kill their 九祖,nine ancestors (not actually 9 generations, its something like to do with killing how many relatives on the female side vs. the male side, and how many generations back, although neither of us are actually sure how the calculation works out to 9). So I asked if the 18 was similar, but he claims no, 18 just "sounds like a lot" and has no real symbolic significance other than making for a nice, strong, curse word.