Octopus Paul stamp becomes centre of attraction at Shanghai Expo 2010

New Delhi, July 17 (ANI): German octopus Paul, who gained global popularity for making accurate predictions in eight World Cup matches, has emerged as a symbol of luck and generated an "octopus fever" in the ongoing Shanghai Expo 2010.

According to the China Daily, crowds have been lining up outside the DEVNET Pavilion located at Zone B in the Expo Garden after the pavilion designed an octopus stamp to attract tourists wanting good luck.

"It's a great opportunity to combine Expo 2010 Shanghai and World Cup 2010 together and we hope it will bring fun and luck to the tourists," Mi Rongrong, press officer of the DEVNET Pavilion said.

Gu Zheng, a 15-year-old boy at the expo said he had come from Beijing because he learnt about the availability of the octopus stamp at the pavilion, which he thinks is a unique and lucky souvenir.

Besides the octopus stamp, octopus-related products like bags, toys, necklaces, USB plug-ins and accessories with octopus characters or signs have become extremely popular at the expo.

Paul's fame has also inspired an aquarium at the Shanghai Changfeng Park to raise an octopus just for fun. The aquarium plans to have a Chinese octopus before the Asian Games to make predictions like Paul did.

"We're having discussions on having our own octopus in the aquarium by the end of September, before the Asian Games starts," said Zhou Yu, the aquarium's marketing director.

"The octopus will be able to make predictions on those games during the Asiad, for entertainment," he added. (ANI)