Opinion / Hot Talks
Nude women and Peking Opera: pornography or art?
By Zhang Xi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-06-28 17:23
A selection of photos taken 10 years ago about Peking Opera is now
stirring a debate on the Internet. In these six black and white pictures,
the female characters are naked.
Every photo's theme is a well-known story of Peking Opera, but the
pictures show the male characters in costume and the naked females posing
intimately with them. And it's the nude women who are the focus of the
viewers' attention, rather than the Peking Opera costumes. The purpose of
these photos is not clear but people speculated where the photographs
first appeared.
Nude women with Peking Opera make up in the photo. [YNET.com]
The first guess is that these photos are murals of a Beijing pub. The
first Internet posting of these pictures appeared in August 2005 and the
poster revealed the pub was going to be sold around that time. However,
he did not mention the name or location of the pub.
Many web surfers were angry at these photos because of the combination of
nude women and Peking Opera. Some said they would never go to the pub
with these painted murals, saying that they ruined the reputation of
China' s traditional art. Others thought these photos were pornographic.
But there were also countless web viewers inquiring about the location of
the pub.
Due to their shocking content, these photos were reposted by many
netizens till June this year but the captions were changed to "nude
players perform Peking Opera in a Beijing pub". A netizen commented,
"These performers went too far. I strongly feel they should be punished!"
and some others said, "We can see another level of Peking Opera now. It's
rare."
Others believed the source of these photos are part of someone's personal
photographic work called "San Jie" or "Three Realms", which were taken by
a photographer named Liu Zheng in 1990s. Although people realize these
bold photos are considered art, they are still talking about the
relationship of Peking Opera and nudity.
A netizen explained, "I'm not against nudity, but I'm firmly opposed to
the combination of naked women and Peking Opera. I don't think people
should disgrace our Chinese treasure."
Liu was shocked by the comments on the Internet, and people posting his
pictures without his permission. He promised to hold a press conference
in the near future. "I'm preparing to solve the problem by lawsuit," he
said.
Gallery manager Chen Guangjun and close friend of Liu, also expressed his
surprise. "Many photographers thought it's weird. I didn't know anything
about it until reporters asked me what happened to Liu."
Chen said he knew of the series of photographs "Three Realms" and
believes they have nothing to do with Peking Opera. "Liu's work is
popular overseas and he just borrowed some cultural elements from Chinese
art, which foreigners like."
He continued, "Sometimes it's hard to define art and pornography. People
outside art circles may think an artistic work is pornographic. If these
photos were published 10 years ago, they could stir many more debates,"
he added. "I don't believe Liu sold his work to a pub. So if any pub has
his work, they are pirating his pictures."
Yin Hong, a professor of School of Journalism and Communication of
Tsinghua University explained people's attitudes towards art are
constantly evolving, and becoming more accepting of nude art. He says
it's because of such mediums as the Internet and television that people
can decide whether an artist's work is art or pornographic. People not
only need to verify the purpose and content of the work, but also discuss
how it affects society's values and morals.
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