In China, there is a belief that the words for numbers -- such as one through nine -- have dual meanings. Specifically, based on their pronunciation in Mandarin, here are the meanings of homonyms of the first nine digits:

1. Together, want
2. Love, easy
3. Earn, live
4. Death
5. Me, not
6. Smooth
7. Together
8. Fortune, wealth
9. Long time

Based on these meanings, it's fairly clear that stocks whose ticker codes contain '4' would be avoided -- I know that flight numbers going to or from China do not contain '4s' and I'd assume that just as Chinese would not want to fly a plane with death in its number they wouldn't want to invest in death either. By contrast -- stocks with '8's and '9's together might be considered likely to go up -- since long-lived wealth would be thought of as a good investment.

But it is a bit scary to contemplate what would happen if there was a change in the way Chinese investors decided which stocks to buy and sell. For instance, what would happen if China decided to require public companies to report accurate and timely financial data and provide realistic guidance on their financial prospects? If a company with '88' in its ticker code was losing money and forecast to lose even more, would Chinese investors dump the shares or hold on?

And this is not just academic speculation. If the Chinese government wants to attract more institutional investment into the Shanghai market, it will probably need to require public companies to provide rigorous financial disclosure. As I suggested above, such disclosure could have negative consequences. And with the Shanghai market up 50% this year and China owning $350 billion worth of U.S. government securities, a market reversal could encourage China to sell its U.S. holdings to cover the losses of its citizens in order to stave off social unrest.

Here are lyrics to The Song of the Stock Market which is circulating on the Internet:

Arise
Ye who haven't got stock accounts!
Invest all your money in the bull market;
The Chinese people have reached the most crazy moment,
Everyone with enthusiasm shouts the shout of buying.
"Arise, Arise, Arise!"
Our millions of people are of one mind, cherishing the dream of overnight wealth.
March on! March on! March on!
Arise,
Ye who do not want to be poor,
To build our Great Wall of stock with our blood money
The Chinese people are experiencing the most crazy market,
Everyone with jealousy shouts the crazy shout.
March on! March on! March on!
United we buy, without considering the risk of being trapped.
March on! March on! March on!

For the sake of the entire world, I just hope Shanghai's investors are not marching off a cliff.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.