Contrary to popular perception, women in Asia are not universally modest. Any time I visit a nightclub in Kunming, for example, I see girls dressed up in outfits that would make any Westerner blush. Granted, some of these women are hired by the club to attract men, but in general women who patronize night-spots in Chinese cities do not dress any less provocatively than their Western counterparts would. And this is in China, which is far more conservative in this way than places like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

Yet on the beach, most Chinese women dress as if no one has seen a swimsuit catalogue in 60 years.  Most young women-in my years of experience ogling babes on beaches across the world- wear bikinis. Not in China. A bikini, to most women I know here, would attract unwanted attention from men and darken their skin, the scourge of the Asian middle class.  Toplessness is out of the question- a topless woman would be about as inconspicuous as Shaquille O’Neal in rural Sichuan.

And so it isn’t terribly surprising that a European woman- the harlot!- caused a minor incident in Qingdao by removing her top on the beach. In homage to Chris*, here is a rough translation** of the whole amusing article:

8月12日下午2时许，一名外国女子在第一海水浴场半裸着晒起了日光浴(图中右侧女子)，该女子的行为立即在浴场引起了一阵骚动，一些市民质疑该女子的”出格”行为，但也有不少游客上前与该女子合影留念。

At 2pm on August 12th, a foreign woman (on the left of the photo) at the Number 1 Seaside Bathing Beach sunbathed half-nude, behavior immediately triggering a  commotion at the beach. Some residents dubbed the woman’s behavior ‘out of line’, yet many beach-goers still approached the woman for a photograph.

“有一名外国女子在沙滩上半裸着晒起了日光浴！”下午2时许，市民初先生致电本报96663反映此事。记者随后来到第一海水浴场，由于天气炎热，浴场里的游客和市民非常多，在市民的带领下，记者找到了这名半裸的女子。

“There’s a foreign woman sunbathing topless at the beach!”. At 2 pm, a city resident surnamed Chu telegrammed this newspaper at 96663 with the news. Shortly thereafter, this reporter arrived at the Number 1 bathing beach, which due to the sizzling weather, was crammed with both local and visiting beach-goers. Under the guidance of a local, this reporter located the half-naked woman.

记者看到，一名金发女子半裸上身正与游客拍照，虽然不少游客驻足观看，但该女子依然泰然自若。记者随后上前与该女子攀谈，通过简单交流，记者了解到，该女子是保加利亚人，在青岛已经待了4天。她觉得青岛是一个很美丽的城市。而对于自己的半裸行为，她并没有很在意，她认为这是一种自由的权利。

This reporter then saw a blonde, topless woman taking photos with other beach-goers, and although she was within view of a number of people, she remained unfazed.

Shortly thereafter, this reporter approached the woman to talk, and after basic conversation the reporter understood that the woman came from Bulgaria, had been in Qingdao four days, and thought Qingdao was a very beautiful city. She seemed indifferent to her toplessness, believing that to be topless was her right.

“浴场里游人那么多，这样做也太不雅观了！”看到这名女子，一名年近七旬的老大爷无奈地摇了摇头。”在外国很平常，在咱这有点儿不雅。”由于该女子的行为过于前卫，记者采访时，很多市民都表示不能理解。

“With so many people around, this kind of behavior is quite unbecoming!”, said a septuagenerian man who couldn’t help but shake his head after seeing the woman. “This may be normal overseas, but here it’s indecent.” A number of residents whom this reporter interviewed expressed bewilderment with the forwardness of the woman’s behavior.

记者随后来到浴场管理处，相关负责人告诉记者，虽然之前浴场也碰到过半裸的游客，但是从没有一位敢在大庭广众之下这么”大胆”的。”我们也没有办法！” 该负责人告诉记者，他们这几天已经接到不少市民和游客投诉这件事情，可是由于没有明确的法律条文禁止这种行为，浴场管理人员也不能进行强制干预，所以他们 也非常无奈。（来源：大河网）

Shortly thereafter, this reporter went to the beach management office, where he was told by a person responsible that although the beach had encountered topless guests in the past, they had never found one daring to go topless in front of so many people. “There’s nothing we can do about it!”. This reporter was told that in the past several days many residents and guests alike have complained about this matter, but because no clear law exists prohibiting this sort of behavior, beach employees simply could not intervene.

I find this story amusing because a) the Bulgarian woman continued sunbathing topless despite what appears to have been an enormous amount of attention on top of the persistent questioning of the reporter, b) that the supposed ‘moral outrage’ involved didn’t prevent beach-goers from crowding around the woman and taking her photo, and c) that rather than compel the woman to put her top back on, the beach officials were preventing from doing so due to the absence of a clear legal statute regarding these matters. See, China is a nation that respects the rule of law!

*Chris, it should be noted, translates items of actual societal value. I’ll stick to the more lurid side with mine.
** Translators, or friends with better Chinese than mine- please feel free to correct this translation of mine. But only if you have way too much free time.