What's Special About 8341?

This number came completely out of left field. I was watching a video about China in which the number was mentioned in reference to Mao Zedong. Figure 1 shows a screenshot from the video. I was embed the video as the link is bound to disappear over time but a hyperlink is included in the caption.

Figure 1: link

The significance of the number is as follows:

The Beijing-based Central Security Regiment, also known as the 8341 Unit, was an important PLA (People's Liberation Army) law enforcement element. It was responsible over the years for the personal security of Mao Zedong and other party and state leaders. More than a bodyguard force, it also operated a nationwide intelligence network to uncover plots against Mao or any incipient threat to the leadership. The unit reportedly was deeply involved in undercover activities, discovering electronic listening devices in Mao's office and performing surveillance of his rivals. The 8341 Unit participated in the late 1976 arrest of the Gang of Four, but it reportedly was deactivated soon after that event.

The above quote is from a website that was last updated on May 22nd 1998. In the video the narrator makes the claim that it was during the Long March in the mid-1930's when the Red Army retreated to Tibet that Mao met a Tibetan lama who gave him the number 8341. Mao later named his personal security detail the 8341 Corps.

The significance of the number only became apparent after Mao's death in 1976 because he had been in absolute control of the Communist Party for 41 years (since November 1935) and he was 83 years old when he died. Coincidence? Perhaps but in any case the number 8341 indisputably a concatenation of his age at the time of his death (83) and the number of years he had been in control of the party (41). 

8341 is a concatenation of Mao Zedong's age (83) at the time of his death and the number of years (41) that he was in control of the CCP

Whether coincidence of not, the number 8341 is now inextricably linked to Mao Zedong. However, there are other stories about how the number was chosen for the unit. This source mentions:

The most widely circulated legend is that when Mao Zedong was young, an old Taoist priest measured his life with him, and left the four numbers 8341, and Mao Zedong used these four characters as the code name of this unit.

Another argument: Mao Zedong joined the army in southern Hunan when he was young. The number on the first gun he got was 8341, so Mao Zedong has always been obsessed with this number. When he gave the army a code name, he gave them 8341 as the code name.

Another source dismisses all of this speculation and states that:

People have had a lot of speculation about the origin of the 8341 unit , giving the number 8341 a lot of mysterious meaning. But these mysterious speculations are not true. Every unit of the People's Liberation Army has a code name, one for simplicity and the other for confidentiality. This code was assigned by the General Staff to the whole army, not by a fortune-teller.

The predecessor of Unit 8341 was the Jinggangshan Military Special Service Company established in May 1928, which was responsible for defending the central leadership. On October 20, 1942, it was renamed the Central Guard Corps of the Communist Party of China .

After stationing in Peiping in May 1949, the Central Guard Corps was expanded into the Central Guard Division . In May 1953, on the basis of the First Regiment of the Central Guard Division, a new CCP Central Guard Regiment was adjusted and enriched . Since then, the code name of the Central Guard Corps has become 8341. 

Since 1976, its code name has been changed to 57001 . The name 8341 withdrew from the stage of history.

However, the most popular account of why this number was chosen relates to Mao's visit to a Taoist monk and is similar to the Tibetan lama story, except for the difference in religions. It is explained in detail in this YouTube video. Figure 2 shows a screenshot from the video.

Figure 2: link