In 1981, just 2 years after the Cultural Revolution in China, I led a People to People Delegation of U.S. Florists to Japan, China, Hong Kong and The Philippines.
Our mission was to meet with flower industry related counterparts with the objective of promoting peace through mutual understanding. President Eisenhower started People to People International. Previously I led a PTPI Florist Delegation to Sweden, Hungary, Russia, Romania and Holland. That was in 1979.
In planning the China mission, I contacted SAF, FTD, Michigan State and Ohio State Horticulture Departments about helping to establish contacts for meetings in China. They were not able to help me and stated that the flower industry as we knew it was an unknown factor in China.
So I went to a local College where a 3rd generation student from China attended. He spoke of seeing “Circles of Flowers” in funeral processions. He described them as wreaths of paper flowers up to 4 foot in diameter. Two people holding these huge, colorful wreaths would walk behind the diceased. He thought we might find something similar to a flower shop if we visited a Bird Stall. Chinese hold Birds, Fish and Flowers in high regard because of their varied colors, thus his reference to a Bird Stall.
We were in one of the largest Bird Stalls in a large city, maybe it was Beijing, but we did not see anything that looked like a flower shop. Then right in front of my eyes a door opened and there I saw someone arranging a basket of gladiolus. I found a flower shop in China that no one in U.S. knew about. I got someone’s attention and soon we were meeting with a florist.
The glads were very inferior in quality, looked like they were infested with thrip. The medium for holding the glads was wet clay and the wicker basket was just like we would use for a Fireside Arrangement.
Through our Interpreter, I arranged for a demonstration of making a floral wreath [Circle of Flowers] out of artificial flowers. I had to buy the arrangement [about $15] and foolishly left it there, not knowing how I would get it home.
Suddenly our Interpreter became very nervous and told me we had to leave quickly because this being an unscheduled stop, the driver did not have a permit to park the bus and was in danger of losing his license for life. I paid the $15 for the wreath, left it there on the design table and rushed everyone out to the bus and there sat half of the florists having given up on this stop having anything to do with flowers. They missed seeing a flower shop in China that SAF, FTD, and two major universities said probably did not exist.
Yet we had noted pictures of government banquets in China and fresh flowers were on the tables. We knew there was a florist industry in China and because I did not give up, we succeeded in our mission.
I thought in light of the Olympics and bouquets of flowers that this story would be interesting. Yes, I have been richly blessed in my business career and because of People to People International I have traveled in well over 30 countries of the world.
Tom Carlson AAF
Our mission was to meet with flower industry related counterparts with the objective of promoting peace through mutual understanding. President Eisenhower started People to People International. Previously I led a PTPI Florist Delegation to Sweden, Hungary, Russia, Romania and Holland. That was in 1979.
In planning the China mission, I contacted SAF, FTD, Michigan State and Ohio State Horticulture Departments about helping to establish contacts for meetings in China. They were not able to help me and stated that the flower industry as we knew it was an unknown factor in China.
So I went to a local College where a 3rd generation student from China attended. He spoke of seeing “Circles of Flowers” in funeral processions. He described them as wreaths of paper flowers up to 4 foot in diameter. Two people holding these huge, colorful wreaths would walk behind the diceased. He thought we might find something similar to a flower shop if we visited a Bird Stall. Chinese hold Birds, Fish and Flowers in high regard because of their varied colors, thus his reference to a Bird Stall.
We were in one of the largest Bird Stalls in a large city, maybe it was Beijing, but we did not see anything that looked like a flower shop. Then right in front of my eyes a door opened and there I saw someone arranging a basket of gladiolus. I found a flower shop in China that no one in U.S. knew about. I got someone’s attention and soon we were meeting with a florist.
The glads were very inferior in quality, looked like they were infested with thrip. The medium for holding the glads was wet clay and the wicker basket was just like we would use for a Fireside Arrangement.
Through our Interpreter, I arranged for a demonstration of making a floral wreath [Circle of Flowers] out of artificial flowers. I had to buy the arrangement [about $15] and foolishly left it there, not knowing how I would get it home.
Suddenly our Interpreter became very nervous and told me we had to leave quickly because this being an unscheduled stop, the driver did not have a permit to park the bus and was in danger of losing his license for life. I paid the $15 for the wreath, left it there on the design table and rushed everyone out to the bus and there sat half of the florists having given up on this stop having anything to do with flowers. They missed seeing a flower shop in China that SAF, FTD, and two major universities said probably did not exist.
Yet we had noted pictures of government banquets in China and fresh flowers were on the tables. We knew there was a florist industry in China and because I did not give up, we succeeded in our mission.
I thought in light of the Olympics and bouquets of flowers that this story would be interesting. Yes, I have been richly blessed in my business career and because of People to People International I have traveled in well over 30 countries of the world.
Tom Carlson AAF
