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Fishing for an angle to Olympic fortunes
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Some fung shui books say that a fish's death will help its owners to ward off evil, while others see it as bad luck. So what about the death of the Chinese sturgeon?
Hong Kong received five Chinese sturgeon, to represent the Olympic rings. And one of the Beijing Games' mascots, Beibei, is a sturgeon.
"The death of the fish is an alarm, warning us to be careful during the Beijing Games," fung shui master Mak Ling-ling said. "It symbolises that there may be some small problems during the Olympics, or the equestrian events might not go smoothly."
But she said the bad luck could be warded off if the fish was replaced soon.
Fung shui practitioner Yeung Tin-ming said the death of the fish revealed that there could be some incidents in August which might relate to "the health of some important people".
Fung shui expert Peter So Man-fung said the incident might imply bad fortune, but it should be something minor like gossip or rumour. He said the public did not need to worry too much because all fish die.
Internet gossip has linked recent tragedies to the five Olympic mascots.
For instance, Sichuan, the scene of last month's devastating earthquake, is home to the panda, symbolised by the mascot Jingjing. Then there's Huanhuan, which symbolises the Olympic flame, but the torch relay has been troubled. Yingying, the mascot representing the Tibetan antelope, has been seen as an indicator of Tibetan riots, while Nini, a swallow that looks like a kite, has been linked to the train crash in Shandong, the birthplace of ancient kite culture.
But fung shui guru James Lee Shing-chak believed it was too superstitious to link tragedies to the mascots. "Can I say it's a bad omen for the Olympic Games if, for example, my five tadpoles - which I say represent the Olympic rings - die at home?" Mr Lee asked.