Hong Kong blogger "diumanpark" has cleaned up the Cupid & Psyche painting which the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority nearly yanked from the Hong Kong Book Fair.
Roland Soong reports "the Hong Kong blogs are forming a ring in which they are posting photographs of artisitic nudes." Examples here, here, here, here, here, and here. (Note: Most of the pictures are classical European paintings or sculptures showing bare breasts of women and/or bare genitals of men.)
Roland also brings us a snippet translated from The Sun:
Yesterday morning, senior Hong Kong SAR officials met to discuss the storm over the book <Love Mythology> and they held different opinions about what to do. The eventual decision was to let Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma Si-hang study the problem. The immediate order was for Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority commissioner Maisie Cheng Mei-sze appear in person to explain. It was also decided that in the future, no work of art will be listed as an indecent article.
I have linked to the main site rather than the article because,
annoyingly, the Sun's URLs are not static. So you'll have to search 影視處 to find the original Chinese story. Here is the key bit that Roland translated:
港府消息透露，政府高層昨早討論《愛情神話》風波，各方持不同意見，決定由商務及經濟局局長馬時亨研究，最後指示影視處處長鄭美施下午現身「解畫」。另外，為方便執法，據悉內部同意今後藝術品一概不會列為不雅物品。
The key quote here is: "今後藝術品一概不會列為不雅物品" "in the future, no work of art will be listed as an indecent article."
If true, this could be helpful to Oiwan Lam's case because the photo she posted was taken, and displayed on Flickr, by a serious photographer as a work of art - not as a smutty tabloid pic. Oiwan made clear in her explanation of her criteria for selecting the photo that she was very deliberately seeking an artistic nude, not something lewd. (Note: that 2nd link contains the offending photo, which shows bare breasts with nipples.)
I wonder if Flickr will unblock Jake Appelbaum's photos for Hong Kong users, now that it is established that Hong Kong people are capable of handling artistic nudes?
Another interesting tidbit: In bringing us reports from the Hong Kong Chinese press about the public ridicule TELA is receiving, Roland also translates some interviews with booksellers. One says that he withdrew the books of Chinese internet sex writer Mu Zimei on TELA's advice. Banned in the PRC.. banned now in Hong Kong too?
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