There was no formal welcome, no captain or other officers. As soon as the 
boat girls had assisted them on board, they bowed and took their leave. 
Dr. X began to amble down the corridor, and Judge Fang followed him. The 
young women in the white dresses bowed as they approached, then continued on 
their way, having no time to waste on advanced formalities. Judge Fang had the 
general sense that they were
peasant women, though none of them had the deep tans that were normally a mark 
of low social status in China. The boat girls had worn blue, so he gathered 
that this color identified people with nautical or engineering duties. In 
general, the ones in the pink dresses were younger and slenderer than the ones 
in the white dresses. The tailoring was different too; the pink dresses closed 
up the middle of the back, the white ones had two zippers symmetrically placed 
in the front.