Nude photos in Tibet get mixed reaction

Basum Lake was listed by the World Tourist Organization as a world tourist spot in the 1990s.[Photo/Xinhua]

Reaction to nude photos posted online of a woman at a sacred lake in the Tibet autonomous region has been mixed.

Negative comments followed the posting of the images earlier this week, but there were also many internet users who supported the nude photography and criticized Sina Weibo user YouchumDolkar for posting private images.

"Nudity does not necessarily imply sex, and nudity does not mean vulgarism," said Weibo user Miaoira.

The photographer was not detained by the police, as reported by some media, according to Wang Jin, head of the publicity department of Nagarze county, Tibet. That was confirmed by the police in Lhasa, the regional capital.

However, Wang said, such photography would not be welcomed by ethnic groups, and public nudity is forbidden by the country's public security regulations.

"Yamdrok Lake is one of the sacred lakes in Tibet, and it is of major significance to its people. Any action that desecrates the lake is forbidden," Wang said.

YouchumDolkar, a female netizen, first posted the nude photos on Monday.

She condemned the actions of the male photographer and the woman for what she said was their "way of thinking without any cultural or moral principles".

She added another post on Thursday saying, "I only wanted more people to know about the local customs in Tibet" and "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

The posts had more than 2,370 comments and 390 reposts as of Thursday.

Accompanying the posts was a screen shot of a WeChat "Moment" in which the photographer explained that the woman who posed for the camera simply wanted to create a memory of the sacred spot because she was able to visit Tibet in the prime of her life.

Beijing News had reported on Wednesday that the police had placed the photographer－identified only as Yufeixiong in his social media account－in administrative detention for 10 days after receiving reports about the nude photo shoot from local residents.

The photographer did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Contact the writers at xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn and daqiong@chinadaily.com.cn