Plastic Gloves and Train Rides.

This past Saturday, several of us in the Jooge hopped on a train to Changsha for a Christmas party hosted by some of our fellow WT volunteers. The party was fun, but that's not the story I am going to tell. The story I will share takes place on the train...

Often times on the trains in China, people (train employees) walk up and down the aisles selling random and seemingly useless items. Anything from flashlights that are powered by cranking a handle, 3D pictures, and, in this case, the most useless and random of all: plastic gloves.

The demonstration began by showing the gloves and giving reasons why people should buy them (or so I assume).

And then...he started blowing the plastic glove up.

And he kept blowing.
And blowing.
And blowing.

He blew until the glove was the size of a small child.

But that's not all. After the air was released from the glove (hitting a woman on the head as it flew about), came the stretch test. How far can you stretch the glove? Let me tell you...they can stretch quite far.

I have to admit, for plastic gloves, these are high quality. But on a train? Why? And even more...people actually bought them!

Why?
Maybe you can help me understand.