NANJING, Sept. 11, 2001 — To the north of the Sheraton Hotel, Nanjing is developed and affluent. Several universities are located in this section of the city, along with attractive parks and monuments. Don't Worry Lake (above), part of a park where people fish, fly their elaborate kites, and cruise about in battery-powered boats, is here. There are theaters and fine restaurants aplenty.

Immediately south of the hotel the neighborhood is poor. The streets are lined with little shops and street peddlers, everyone living cheek-by-jowl: fruit and vegetable dealers, cobblers, clothiers and clothes repairers, cheap jewelry salesmen. A very few stores are attractive, as shown in this display of vegetables. Most stalls are decrepit. The proprietors are likely to be displaced countryside farm workers.