Ananova:

A Chinese professor shocked his students by stripping naked during an art class.

Prof Mo Xiaoxin, 56, was trying to emphasise the "power" of the body and to "challenge taboos", according to a Chinese newspaper.

Mo, 56, arranged for four other models, including a man and woman in their seventies or eighties, and a younger couple, to strip naked in front of the class while he lectured.

During the class, he also invited students to take off their clothes.

"Professor Mo appeared emotionally excited at the time," the paper quoted a student as saying.

"As he was talking, he undid his belt and took off his pants, and stood naked in the middle of the lecture podium."

The naked lecture, at the Institute of Human Body Culture and Arts in Changzhou city, made many of the 30 or so students feel "uneasy", the paper said.

"Some kept their eyes trained on the ceiling, some awkwardly bowed their heads and stared at the ground".

Tian Junting, a culture ministry official, said the course was still in a "research phase" and it wasn't yet known whether it had produced "positive or negative effects".

"There are no taboos in the field of research, but to do this directly in the course of teaching is obviously not appropriate," he added.