Thousands Flock to Stock Lottery Sites in China : Securities: Only one in 10 will be allowed to buy issues on a new exchange. That slim chance still draws people from all over the country.

Clutching wads of cash and dreaming of overnight riches, hundreds of thousands of would-be capitalists from across China engulfed this southern boom town Sunday for a slim chance of playing its new stock market.

Exasperated police used electric cattle prods, bamboo canes and leather belts to try to control the huge sweat-soaked crowds, which had gathered over two days outside 302 Shenzhen banks and brokerages, witnesses said.

Shortly before 8 a.m., when 5 million stock market lottery tickets went on sale, wails rose outside Shenzhen’s Bank of China branch as the crush of bodies churned against a barricade of steel desks blocking the main doors.

Only one in 10 of the 100 yuan ($18) coupons going on sale will be selected by stock market officials, giving the lucky holders the chance to buy stock later this year.

Police said one person died in a crush in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone’s Dongmen district Saturday night, and rumors circulated that a woman was crushed to death elsewhere on the same day.

Scores of investors overcome by 95-degree heat lay in heaps at every distribution site. Hawkers were making small fortunes selling bottles of water and soda that people gave friends and relatives still in line.

Hospitals said many people had sought treatment for heat exhaustion but there were few serious injuries.

“If this is what you have to do to get rich in China, then I don’t want to get rich,” said Jonathan Chen, 24, a businessman from nearby Canton lured to Shenzhen by the stock fever.

“You could call this issuing stock with Chinese characteristics,” Chen said of the chaos--a pun on patriarch Deng Xiaoping’s call for “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Deng’s slogan made possible the bold experiments with capitalism in Shenzhen and elsewhere.

One Shenzhen broker said: “Nobody wanted this lining-up method, but stock market officials prevailed. I hope we don’t have to go through this again next year.”

The two-day operation starting Sunday is to sell application forms for “A” shares--reserved for Chinese citizens--to be issued in the 1992-93 financial year.

Nationwide stock market fever has been fueled by the meteoric rise in the price of shares issued last year in Shenzhen and another infant bourse in Shanghai. Investors have seen returns of several hundred percent.

Despite the slim chances of winning the lottery, hundreds of thousands of would-be investors traveled from across China, eager to pay several weeks’ wages for the coupons.

People who survived the sweltering heat and perilous lines and bought coupons said they would do it again.

“Of course it was worthwhile,” said Yu Jinbin, 25, a Guangdong province utility worker bathed in sweat who tried in vain to keep his 10 coupons dry.

“I bought them for everyone in my family. How could I see all these people getting rich like this and not try to get in on it too?”

Applicants had to present a personal identity card for each coupon purchased, with a limit of 10. Many people formed village syndicates to buy up as many chances as they could.

Thousands of more cautious Chinese gawked from beyond police lines fashioned from ropes, gratings, trees and even bicycles. Many said they feared that nepotism and corruption reduced the chances of actually getting stock.

“You’ve got a one-in-10 chance of buying anything, but the chance itself is very expensive,” said a bystander named Zhang who scoffed at the get-rich-quick mentality. “Even then, how many people are using back-door connections?”

Hundreds of officers from the People’s Armed Police, a branch of the army, seemed to relish the chance to eject people from the lines for minor infractions, witnesses said.

“This is totally unfair,” shouted a deeply tanned peasant from Zhejiang province, bare-chested and shoeless, who was hurled from the line minutes before the doors opened.

“I waited all night for nothing. Look at me. Nothing but sweat.”