Forget the Mao suits of a generation ago. Actually, forget about any clothes at all. Naked wedding photos are the hot new trend among young couples in once deeply conservative China.
Even in Anhui, a largely rural province in the east, many newlyweds are having their pictures taken in the nude, to the fury of their parents' generation, the Xinan Evening News said.
"Some photo studios are just going too far. They allow young women to have their photos taken in bikinis or with nothing on at all," said an irate woman from the Anhui capital of Hefei. "I hope the authorities will do something."
She had just found out that her daughter had taken two sets of wedding photos, one to show the family, and another considerably more intimate one for her own private consumption.
Previous reports in the state media suggested nude wedding photos were a trend that began in southern China and was gradually spreading to the rest of the country.
"Not a few young people think that the nude pics are a welcome renewal to the stale unchanging traditions of the wedding photo," the Xin Wenhua Bao newspaper reported last November.
This attitude is now prevalent even in northwest China's Xian, a proud ancient capital and home to the -- fully dressed -- terracotta soldiers.
The Xian Evening News did a random check of five photo studios, and found that all of them would be willing to take nude photos of soon-to-be-married couples, should they so wish.
"Most of the people who come here to have the bold, naked photos taken are young, trendy and unconventional," said a studio owner. "There are still lots of people who don't like it."
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