(Photo via Weibo)

Several nude photos of a Chinese couple taken in Dali, one of Yunnan's most popular tourist destinations, have triggered major online controversy. The couple has been put under administrative detention for at least 13 days by local police.

Most of the pictures show the couple wearing nothing at all, while posing for photos around People's Road, Dali No. 4 Middle School, a music bar and Four Seasons Hotel. Two of the photos are strongly sexually suggestive. Both the man and the woman in the photos are young and thin, with long hair.

Local police said in an online statement around 1 p.m. today that the couple disseminated pornographic information through the Internet. According to Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, the woman has been put under administrative detention for 15 days and the man has been put under administrative detention for 13 days.

Judging from the photos, the couple must have posed in the middle of the night. No onlookers are visible. At press time, the two parties in the photo had been detained by local police.

The man posed for nude photos at the gate of Dali No. 4 Middle School. (Photo via Weibo)

Many netizens commented that it's not art, but rather pornography. Some netizens expressed the hope that the photographer will apologize for the pictures.

Yesterday around 10 a.m., Chinese writer Shi Huaiji, who was born and raised in Dali, re-posted the nude photos on his Weibo account, together with an article entitled "Dali cannot bear obscenity in the name of art."

Lawyer Chang Sha with king-capital's said that the two subjects of the photos might face criminal penalties, and that those who have spread the photo could face administrative penalties.