These photos feature some of the most iconic places in China. However, what catches most people’s eyes is the naked man doing push ups. How scandalous! The naked man is a TV host from Guangdong. He claims that the series of naked photos display his pride of China and his body.
You can probably figure out that such brave actions would scandalise China. But interestingly the focus is not so much on nudity in China’s ’sacred’ sites. But whether the photos are genuine. I call this the ‘tiger syndrome’, aka the fake tiger photo fiasco which happened earlier this year. 华南虎/hua2 nan2 hu3/ South China Tiger is a breed near extinction. And as its name suggests, the tiger is an important cultural symbol (the real-life counterpart of the mythical dragon). Therefore, when a farmer presented a photo of the tiger taken it in the forest near where he lives, it ignited national excitement. He was rewarded money and made multiple TV appearances to describe his close encounter with the tiger. But a surprising sequence of developemnt ensued. The authenticity of the photo was challenged by the zealous internet community, China’s de facto civil society. And it turns out that the tiger was a superimposed image. As a result, no great photos go without the suspicion of photoshop. And quite good photos these are.
Hi, I am Jenny Zhu from ChinesePod.com. I bring you a slice of the Chinese language and culture in the daily podcast. But there is so much more than what a podcast has time for, so jennyzhu.com is a space of observation and reflection on the big, small and everything in between about China.
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July 14th, 2008 at 6:32 am
I wouldn’t necessarily call doing push-ups in the nude and publishing pictures of them brave. But if it’s a person’s cup of tea, so be it. As for photoshopping nude pictures, well, that’s another matter.