Parasols

Instead of wearing hats, most Nanjing women carry parasols to shield them from the punishing sunlight; but I have opted for a hat to keep my hands free. It's hard to work with a camera while carrying an umbrella.

In this part of the world, a good summer tan is not a status symbol. It suggests a person recently worked on a farm and is new to Nanjing. There are many such migrants, and they rank low in the social pecking order.