A shy young girl stands naked against the backdrop of a loess cliff, with her hands covering her groin and her face half hidden by her wind-blown long hair.

This was the top prize-winning entry in the country's first figure photography contest recently held in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.

The panel of judges regarded the picture, titled, "Beauty from the Loess Plateau" as bewitching to viewers, with the milk-white young figure and the yellow earth, a symbol of the Chinese civilization, said Xinhua news agency.

To the surprise of many, the photographer, Huang Xusheng, comes from Shanxi Province in the north, where local people are normally regarded as more conservative.

Huang, a 65-year-old native of Yangquan, became a professional cameraman four decades ago, and loves taking pictures recording the traditional life styles of local people.

In 1980, he won his first international award, at an Asia-Pacific photo contest sponsored by UNESCO, with a photo titled, "Horseplay at a Wedding."

Huang began taking figure photos in 1988, when one of his friends showed him a notice about a figure photography contest.

Huang made up his mind to try, but at first he found it too difficult to find people who were willing to pose in the nude. The friend became his first model for figure photography.

Since then, Huang has taken figure photos of more than 60 models, including sports coaches, college students and officials. None of them were professional models.

To protect them from being ridiculed by conservative-minded people, Huang has never disclosed their identities.

Huang cannot afford to pay his models, but bases his cooperation with them on mutual understanding, respect and a common aspiration and love for figure photographing.

Most of his figure photos depict the beauty of harmony and unity between the local residents on the Loess Plateau and Nature: two young girls play in a hillside pond; a long-plaited girl lies on the ground with flowers blossoming all over the mountain; the ancient Great Wall and a beautiful girl make a stunning contrast.

Figure photography has taken a hard and slow course in China ever since 1912, when a Shanghai-based art magazine published more than 20 photos of figure models from the West.

(Eastday.com.cn 05/22/2001)