A Chinese woman has been criticized on social media after posing for nude photographs at one of Tibet’s sacred lakes. Some internet users said the woman had disrespected the Tibetan culture and broken religious taboos.

Local police refutes media reports that the photographer has been detained for ten days. Police did not disclose the woman's identity or punishment.

A web user indentified as "YouchumDolkar" on Weibo, posted the series of photographs on Monday night. Alongside the pictures, the woman posted a message: "A good photographer and a good model have broken cultural and ethnic boundaries." 

Some of the pictures show a woman posing totally naked, with her face turned away from the camera. In other pictures, she can be seen wearing a red dress while floating in the lake, or sitting and standing on the shore.(Photo/Weibo)

In contrast to some of the critical comments, some Internet users said the woman’s photographs constituted art, and they supported her decision to stage a photo shoot next to the sacred lake.

The photographer wrote on his Wechat: "The young woman said that her visit to Tibet was probably the best time of her life and she wanted to have a keepsake of herself in this holy land." (Screenshot/ Photographer's Wechat)

Yamdrok Lake, one of Tibet’s three sacred lakes, is located less than 100 kilometers from the capital, Lhasa.

Will the woman be put on the government's blacklist for her controversial behavior? Tibet Autonomous Region Tourism Development Committee said in a statement that they will "publish the relevant results after investigation."