"Please buy my flowers"

So we Americans have acquired a new hobby: watching the Flower Girls at work in Hankou. There is a phenomenon in Wuhan's Hankou District known plainly as Flower Girls; they are girls aged 5-10 who attempt to sell flowers to couples, and if the couple stays in the same spot for more than 5 seconds, the little girl wraps herself around the knee of the male and refuses to let go until he buys the wilting flowers from her. Some of the girls are pretty driven and are dragged along until they successfully sell flowers while other girls either never latch on or are easily removed by their victim. We spent approximately 20 minutes watching this spectacle (after Robert screamed like a girl at the sight of them, of course). On this particular afternoon, there were four of them patrolling the same area, so we were able to catch quite a few successful latches, but an equal number of dirty bottoms from where they had been dragged for a few meters.
It's actually really wrong of us to be laughing at all of this since the children are often covered in bruises that they did not receive while on the job, but later at home when their boss lady beats them for not making enough sales. There are so many things in China that are comical on the outside, but really have a harsh and heartbreaking back story. Another example of that is the 8-year-old contortionist who folds herself into a human pretzel not far from the main headquarters of New Oriental. We often see her on a cardboard met near the mall and from time to time she is given food or drink by a sympathizer who cannot stand to see her discomfort and refuses to give her money that she'll never spend herself.
Wuhan is a mystery.