Participants in an outdoor nudist barbeque party in the mountains of Wulai (烏來) in New Taipei City escaped serious punishment for offenses against public decency, after prosecutors gave them only a one-year “stayed charge.”
Prosecutors said they decided to be lenient because the party organizers had tried to safeguard their privacy and the activity took place in a secluded location.
The leaders of the nudist group, a woman surnamed Chen (陳) and a man surnamed Chu (朱), organized the au naturel barbeque event, which took place in a forest in September last year.
Photo provided by police
The “stayed charge,” handed down earlier this week, means that the charges have been withdrawn, but each participant was fined NT$2,000.
Commenting on the decision, Chen said: “I enjoy the feeling of my clothes-free body being in touch with nature. What is wrong with that?”
Saying society is too conservative, Chen added: “Why do people think that the naked body is something dirty?”
“We are just a group of people who love to embrace freedom outdoors. It is a healthy lifestyle to bare one’s body in nature. We do not engage in wild sex parties; it is not a swinger’s club. I do not understand why people have such biased preconceptions.”
Chen and Chu utilized Facebook to invite fellow devotees of “naturism” to join the party. Male participants paid NT$1,000, while women forked out NT$300 to join the party.
According to a prosecutors’ statement, a total of 10 people — seven men and three women — ranging in age from 36 to 57, attended the event.
They drove by car to a forest in Wulai, then hiked to a place near the upper stream of Tonghou River (桶后溪) to a secluded location to hold the party.
Chen said that the fees were used to pay for the food, barbeque grills, fuel, equipment and other expenses.
She said men were charged more because they usually consume more food than women.
Chu said nudist camps are found in many countries around the world, and the clubs have families as regular members.
“So why do people in Taiwan give us peculiar looks as though something deviant is going on?” she asked.
“After what happened this time, I do not think that nudist clubs have any future in Taiwan,” she said.
According to media reports, someone tipped off the police about the event, and officers conducted an investigation, questioning Chu and other participants and taking photographs to use as evidence.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
RSS