THE SIDELINES : China Becomes a Petal-Pusher
China has adopted a new ploy to recoup costs of the Asian Games held in Beijing--require schoolchildren to buy the wilting flower displays.
“We have to buy them,” said a student as he and his school friends took bunches of flowers home.
Schoolchildren are required to buy pots of chrysanthemums, daisies and dahlias at the cost of about 30 cents. The flowers are sold on street corners.
More than 2 million pots of flowers decorated Beijing during the games.
Many Chinese were forced to buy bonds to pay for the games and some complained that police stopped cars outside the northern city of Tianjin to touch drivers for $1 contributions.
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