Alberto Gonzalez is Chinese Agent

Or so it seems.

The "Photo Tech" section of Sina.com, China's leading internet portal, offers a cornucopia of images ranging from exotic landscapes to tasty-looking hotpots, but until recently one of the most popular sections was the one discreetly titled "body photographs".

This month, however, weblinks to the section have been cut and its hundreds of erotic images of the naked female form removed, leaving only a pro-forma warning that reads: "It is forbidden to upload pictures that are pornographic, obscene or otherwise unhealthy."

The sudden removal of the section highlights the sensitivities that still surround the portrayal of nudity in China.

Pornography, outlawed in all its forms by the Chinese government after 1949, remains strictly illegal. Art that involves nudity, however, is now officially accepted. The problem, in China as elsewhere, is telling the difference.

"There are no regulations for the publication of 'body art' books," says a manager at Popular Photography, a magazine that often features nudes. "After publication, if the relevant government department decides it is pornography, it's pornography."

Despite the sudden emptying of the Sina.com body photography site, it is clear that officials are increasingly tolerant of nudity.

Oh, wait. 'Increasingly tolerant' of nudity? That doesn't sound like Gonzalez at all.

Note to self: Change headline to "I Wish Alberto Gonzalez was Chinese Agent, Because Then We'd Be More Free Than We Are Right Now"