Bare with us: Hong Kong’s nudists struggle for acceptance
Hong Kong’s nudists undress at the drop of a hat for aesthetic and leisure activities but they have trouble convincing Hong Kong’s prudish bureaucrats it is harmless enjoyment
With slow, soothing music playing in the background, a 40-something woman poses naked on a stage in a room in an apartment building in North Point, changing positions every 20 seconds behind a small timer placed on the stage.
Wielding charcoal pencils or colour brushes, seven painters flesh out the faint outline of the slim female body in their sketch books.
This is the weekly drawing session organised by the Hong Kong Body Art Association. Besides drawing sessions with nude models, the association regularly organises indoor yoga sessions, hiking and yacht excursions and overseas trips – all in the buff.
With Hong Kong being a conservative society and the public more likely to associate naked human bodies with pornography than art, it’s not surprising that the events held by the association raise some eyebrows.
In 2006, when the association applied to the Sai Kung District Council for a section of a remote beach to be used as a nudist zone, they were rejected by the government.
Simon Cheung, the founder of the association, says Gary Fan Kwok-wai was the only member on the council who supported the proposal then.