Hong Kong is similar to mainland China when it comes to conservatism about sex and nudity. Last week, Xinhua News Agency declared nude photos as not art.
The conservative outlook explains why activities of the Hong Kong Body Art Association are held indoors, including yoga sessions, hiking, yacht excursions, overseas trips and drawing sessions done nude. As reflected in the Xinhua editorial, Hong Kong too links naked human bodies with pornography rather than art.
This caused raised eyebrows whenever the association held events in the city, reported South China Morning Post.
Simon Cheung, association founder, shared that the group often held nudist boat outing in remote islands in Sai kung. In 2006, they applied with the Sai Kung District Council to have a section of a remote beach declared a nudist zone.
It was in a deserted island off New Territories’ east coast where the association planned to hold nude barbecues, swimming, hiking, yoga, boating and photography. But the council turned down their request with only one council member, Gary Fan Kwok-wai, who sided with their proposal.
Cheung pointed out, “Hong Kong people are hostile to such things due to moral constraints.” The prudish outlook explains why the Obscene Articles Tribunal wrote in 1995 that Hong Kong is the world’s laughing stock for banning an advertisement that depicted the David statue of Italian artist Michelangelo which showed the biblical character’s genital.
Hong Kong likewise ordered that a cardboard fig leaf be placed on the nude Man statue of famous female sculptor Elizabeth Frink.
To promote nudism, Cheung set up a website in 1996 with a server in the U.S. which warned him of spreading porn and obscenity. To protest the warning, he organized a human body paint event in North Point with his wife as model. Fortunately, when he informed the North Point police station ahead of the event, he got their approval and made history by holding the city’s first public nudist painting event.
In May 2007, Cheung also organized the first nude photographic competition in Hong Kong to mark the 10th anniversary of the handover. Blouinartinfo reported that the contest received over 300 entries, with eight given awards.