Bare truth: no nudes please, we're Chinese

LIFE classes in Hong Kong's art departments are suffering from a lack of locals willing to strip for the benefit of students.

Those teaching figure drawing are complaining that they mostly have to draw on foreigners who are less inhibited at the prospect of baring their bodies before a room full of strangers. The shortage of models has forced the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to cut its lessons for its 15 students in the subject from 13 to eight.

Kurt Chan Yuk-keung, the lecturer in charge of the figure drawing course, said: 'Not many people work in this walk of life since there is no guarantee of a stable monthly income. The majority are foreigners, not local people.' He said the shortage meant the same model had to be used more frequently than would be desirable, and the classes sometimes had to resort to drawing clothed people. A psychologist noted that traditional cultural values led Chinese men and women to feel shame and indecency in baring their bodies in public.

Dr Ifaac Tam Chung-ngok, counsellor for the Personal Development and Counselling Centre in the Hong Kong University, said: 'It is part of our cultural teachings that our bodies should not be disclosed publicly. In Western countries, they have an appreciation of nude bodies, but we feel shameful or indecent instead.

'Chinese people cannot overcome the psychological obstacle of being nude in front of other people. Besides, they find it illegitimate to earn money from exposing their own bodies.' Lee Yun-woon, head of Chinese University's fine arts department, said: 'Foreigners have a different attitude to being a nude model from local Chinese. It's like taking up a job in a fast-food shop to them.' The foreign models are found through advertisements placed in Chungking Mansions, home of economy-conscious backpackers. They are paid $400 for a two-hour session. A former art student, Rachel Lee Shuk-mei, recalled how a caretaker from a student hostel had posed several times before the same class two years ago.

'He was very unattractive. The whole class lost interest,' Miss Lee said.

The Arts Centre in Wan Chai, which has a maximum 20 students per course, also faces a shortage of nude models, and with five life drawing courses offered each quarter, it needs them even more. At present there are fewer than 10 models on the books for courses.