Naked wedding pictures as memento latest fad in China

BEIJING - Naked wedding pictures as memento of the big day have become a hit among young Chinese couples, although this latest fad has irked some who vowed to push for a ban on the studios offering such services.

The Shanghai Wedding Trade Association says posing nude as a memento of your big day is disrespectful of the institution of marriage.

“We don’t advocate such wedding photographs as they are out of keeping with the conservative traditions of Chinese people,” said He Lina, vice president of the association.

“Weddings should be holy ceremonies, so we hope young people can show respect,” Shanghai Daily Friday quoted He as saying.

He also expressed concern over privacy issues, saying couples were running the risk of their intimate pictures being sold or put online by unscrupulous photographers.

He, however, didn’t know how many studios were offering this service, but said the association will ask the government to ban such facilities as they were a bad moral influence.

A probe by the daily has found that the naked wedding picture business is an open secret among many local photography studios.

Though not included in the service menu, many studios allow new couples to choose from a number of options. These include wearing nothing at all or covering private parts with strategically placed decorations.

Privacy concerns were also echoed by Zhao Jiaoli, secretary general of the Shanghai Commission of Consumers’ Rights and Interests Protection, who advised young couples to sign detailed confidentiality agreements with studios.

“An agreement is important for customers to protect their rights if the studio violates their privacy,” said Zhao. “But many studios don’t provide contracts.”

She also encouraged the wedding trade association to set up regulations making confidentiality agreements compulsory for the business.

Lawyer Liu Chunquan said it is legal for studios to run such a business, but people who put images in the public domain would be guilty of spreading pornography.

“What if the couples get divorced? What would they do with the naked pictures? Burn them or use them to threaten each other,” asked a web user on sina.com.

But some other netizens thought the pictures could be a sign of a couple’s deep love and intimacy.