Why do Chinese women (men) hold hands?

Women protect themselves from the sun using an umbrella:

On any given sunny (or hazy) day, someone of my height will have to dodge the seemingly continuous roof of umbrellas that women use to protect themselves from the sun. Chinese women being a bit shorter than I am, their unfurled umbrellas are usually at my eye level; if I'm not careful I could easily incur an eye injury. Interesting cultural difference: in America, tanned is healthy, in China tanned is indicative of peasantry. Refined folk and women are expected to be fair-skinned. I later learned that most women own two different umbrellas; one for sunny days and one to use in the rain. When I asked my informant what happens if the day starts out sunny and then turns to rain: do they carry two umbrellas? She laughed and said that they then only use one umbrella; usually the one reserved for rain so that the more ornate 'sun' umbrella does not get water damaged.