In the West, being tan is a sign of upper class social status.
The natural reasoning is that most people have indoor jobs, with little leisure time - so if you are tan, you must have access to the outdoors, which implies greater wealth than average.
In China it's the reverse:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/w...on-can-include-a-mask.html?src=me&ref=general
For legions of middle-class Chinese women - and for those who aspire to their ranks - solar protection is practically a fetish, complete with its own gear. This booming industry caters to a culture that prizes a pallid complexion as a traditional sign of feminine beauty unscathed by the indignities of manual labor. There is even an idiom, which women young and old know by heart: "Fair skin conceals a thousand flaws."
A fascinating example of the potentially radical differences in socio-economic cultural norms. The status aspect comes from affluent social signals, which in turn come from setting one's self apart; if you were lean and tan in, say, India for example, such would impart no status because everyone is!
As cultural signposts, these norm differences were first made present in the West via Renaissance paintings and the old masters. The reason all those women in your high school art books are plump and pale is because extra weight signified having enough food to eat, and paleness signified a life indoors (versus tilling the soil like a feudal serf).
This seems a topic far afield from trading, but I don't think it is. Understanding human psychology, biology and culture - and the unique and curious ways that all three intertwine - can lead to rare but lucrative opportunities that others fail to see, and the study and contemplation of such pays dividends over time.
That's why I agree more or less w/ Barton Biggs and Charlie Munger, re, the value of a global macro trader being a voracious reader, maintaining a passionate innate curiosity as to "why the world wags and what wags it."
