Customers reaching for vegetables on sale in a supermarket in Guangzhou on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. [Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily]

People queue up outside a supermarket in Guangzhou for cheap vegetables on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. [Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily]

A tired woman crouches to rest in the line outside a supermarket in Guangzhou to purchase cheap vegetables on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. [Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily]

More than 200 customers waited for hours to buy vegetables at 90%-off prices before a supermarket opened on Tuesday in Guangzhou.

"I got up at 5:30, quickly washed my face and rushed over here. It was only six o'clock when I arrived," an elderly lady said with pride.

The vegetables were offered at 0.6 yuan, about 8 US cents, per kilogram, which can hardly buy anything in large Chinese cites. The 500 kilograms of cabbages, carrots, and Indian lettuce were sold out within half an hour.

(CRI February 21, 2008)