Historical views of the body in Chinese medicine and art prefigure the complex bodily images that confounded early Western observers of Chinese culture, challenged the aspirations of modern reformers, and inspire contemporary artists. On the one hand, the decoupling of sexual bodies and sin in China's classical tradition made the unclothed physical body inconsequential, even trivial, as a site of virtue, morality, or beauty. Ideas about sinful bodies – particularly notions of homophobia and heteronormativity – that informed modern sexological discourses raised confusing questions for China's twentieth-century youth. Was it modern to wear shorts to play basketball? Was it modern to scorn homoerotic theater culture? Was it modern to hire nude models in art academies? Embroidered shoes were enticingly beautiful, even elegant, but not so the stunted bare foot. Tight-fitting qipao dresses were supposed to be quintessentially Chinese, but did they have to be slit thigh-high? Settling these confusing questions about the body entailed conflict, but also a good deal of wit and humor, precisely (or, if only) because it was difficult to take nude bodies that seriously. They were not all that important.