A nude swimming area, claiming to be the first in China, has been set up in Linan West Zhejiang Scenery Area, east China's Zhejiang Province, and is to open on August 12.

Located 80 kilometres away from Hangzhou, the provincial capital city, the idea of setting up this nude swimming area was inspired by a n incident that happened a few days -- eight female university students took off their clothes and swam naked when they were playing; this scene embarrassed the security guards of the beach.

Nevertheless, regardless the embarrassment of the guards, the person-in-charge of the scenery area immediately erected a sign writing 'nude swimming area' on it. Even though the sign was removed due to the protest of other visitors, it was re-erected afterwards.

The customer service department of Linan West Zhejiang Beach Area confirmed the nude swimming area will be officially opened to the public August 12.

However, this has led to much controversy, and opinions are divided towards this idea.

Salesperson Mr. Li says that nude swimming may corrupt public morals and should be banned. 'In human phylogeny it was an advancement for us from being naked to clothed,' he said. 'Nude swimming is an uncivilized act that is going against the trend.'

A secondary school teacher, refusing to identify herself, said that she feels shocked about the idea. She thinks this kind of 'openess' is too much for people to accept and should be condemned because it disrespects others.

2004/08/08
Source: Xinhuanet