Umbrellas, parasols and sun screen...

It’s summer time in China… and in the summer it’s not too different from anywhere else in that people dress more casually… sandals and shorts become more the norm. While we all embrace more informality in the summer there are differences in how we deal with the warm weather and the sunshine. One summertime difference that many Europeans and Americans notice during their visits to Asia is the use of umbrellas or parasols… sure we all have them and use them when it rains but in Asia they come out in droves when the sun shines.

Chinese mothers for example hate it when their adult daughters (and younger children) get a tan and are always warning them to stay out of the sun or use their umbrella. Walk across Tiananmen Square in the full sun and the umbrellas are up in profusion… the Western tourists use their sun screen but it’s umbrellas for the Chinese… makes a lot of sense also… well, at least if the umbrellas are properly coated to cut down on the UV or otherwise it’s pretty much a fashion statement!

Somehow all this umbrella use fits… umbrellas are generally thought to have originated in China and they are now a consumer product with a huge international market. And as you might expect, most of the world’s umbrellas are now “made in China” with a majority of umbrellas coming from the Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. According to various sources, the city of Shangyu alone has more than a thousand umbrella factories.

Personally, I’ve always liked the decorative parasols of Japan and China and while there are still a number of these for sale to tourists and collectors, the modern mass produced “made in China” umbrellas have taken over.

Will we see more umbrellas deployed in the bright sunlight of Indiana? Yes, I think so… but we are still pretty much a “pass the sun screen tube” culture. Too bad, parasols are pretty cool.