On hot days she would rise to the surface, glowing and tantalising, with a lily-leaf shading her like a parasol.

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The "white parasol" at the top of the planet reflects energy from the Sun straight back out into space, helping to cool the Earth.

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Tourists nostalgic for the 1930s can also visit the French Concession, once the refuge of opium lords, gangsters and prostitutes, where restored colonial mansions stand on streets lined by parasol trees.

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