A photographic exhibition depicting naked beauties in downtown Beijing has sparked controversy among people from different walks of life, the Beijing Youth Daily reports.

The newspaper on Tuesday quoted a man in his fifties as saying that most people could accept aesthetically-pleasing photos reflecting nudity as there had been many shows of nude photos before.

"But I can't see any good taste in the photos displayed at this exhibition," said the man, citing one photo depicting three nude women standing around a middle-aged man in a western-style suit sitting on a sofa.

There are two training classes for children in the same building where the exhibition is located. "It is hard to tell what impact these photos will have on those children as young children are not sophisticated in their understanding and view of things around them," the concerned man said.

Man Di, the organizer of the exhibition, thinks otherwise. "Present-day youngsters have a strong ability to absorb new things and show no special reaction after having seen the nude photos," she said.

Sun Yunxiao, deputy head of the China Youngsters Research Center, believes that the minds of young children can easily be affected by outside influences because they are still growing and their view of the world is not very sophisticated.

"Therefore, organizers of art exhibitions on such subjects as nudity should have a sense of social responsibility, while relevant authorities must also step up censorship of such exhibitions," Sun added.

(People's Daily May 29, 2002)