Red light On Body Sushi

Cartoon illustrating the news. (Photo: Tom.com)

    Health authorities in Southwest China's Yunnan Province has called an end to the service of the Japanese-style "feast on a beauty's body" four days after its debut.

    A sushi restaurant with the name of Hefengcun Huaishi located in provincial capital Kunming last Friday launched a service in which sushi and other food are displayed on nearly naked bodies of two women, both models with college diplomas.

    Health authorities from both the province and the provincial capital launched a sanitation investigation Monday and ruled that the two women, who acted as dishes, did not have health certificates which are a must for workers in the restaurant industry in the country.

    The service triggered a heated debate once it was launched last week.

    Some media reports said the service meant an unbearable insult and shame to women and posed a serious assault to the traditional value of the Chinese nation.

    The management of the restaurant contended that they launched such a service to introduce the special Japanese food culture to Chinese people.

    However, Qian Ning, a sociologist with Yunnan University, said that as once a fashion in the Japanese royal court, "the feast on a beauty's body" reflected women's humble social status in a certain period of history.

    "The reappearance of such a culture is totally a historical retrogress," Qian said.

    Qian also said that any introduction of exotic culture should by no means surpass the tolerance bottom line of the native culture. Enditem

    (Agencies/China Daily)

    More file photos:

Japanese body sushi service. (Photo: Tom.com/File Photo)