By Chen Yang

A nudist bathhouse at a resort in Hongya, Sichuan Province, reopened Saturday, six years after closing due to pressure from local campaigners, the Sichuan Daily reported Sunday.

The facility is at the Yuping Mountain Scenic Area and provides separate bathing for men and women. Security guards patrol the area and the taking of photographs is forbidden, Li Jun, manager of the resort, said.

“We hope that lots of visitors will come and enjoy the scenery and get close to nature,” he said, adding that nude bathing was an age-old tradition in Hongya county.

The pastime has its roots in the legend of Lu Wan, a young woman who threw herself from a waterfall to save her honor after being kidnapped by bandits. To commemorate her death, people visit the mountain and bathe nude, Li said.

The bathhouse was opened by former teacher Shen Shuzhen in April 2002 and was the second of its kind in the country, after a similar facility opened in Heilongjiang in 2000.

Both closed in 2003 following waves of public protest and Shen left the Hongya area, Leng Ziqi, the former head of the Yuping Mountain district, said.
Liu Chang, head of the Hongya Tourism Administration, said last year he supported the reopening of the bathhouse.

He was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Zhang Jiehai, a sociologist at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the nudist culture does not fit well with China’s conservative sensibilities.

“In foreign countries nudist bathhouses are usually opened by groups of like-minded people, but in China they always have a commercial purpose and attract a lot of pubic attention,” he said.

“But as long as the operators are not breaking any laws or regulations, they should be allowed to run them.”

There are no laws in China prohibiting the running of nudist bathhouses.
News of the reopening spread quickly on the Internet.

“The bathhouse is located in a public place, so the nudists will scare off other tourists,” a Web user said at NetEase.com.

“The men and women are divided, so this has nothing to do with morals. It feels good to be naked in the nature,” another said.