Practical or provocative?

She feels OK with shorts and miniskirts, or even low-cut dresses, she said. Her criterion is that no matter how much flesh is on show, the clothes have to be attractive.

Wang said she feels it's more acceptable in Western countries for women not to wear bras. "I don't feel comfortable in a bra. In Beijing, I have to choose dresses made out of thick fabric so that I don't attract too much attention. But there was nothing to worry about when I traveled around London.

"If I had a more slender figure, I would wear tight-fitting short dresses or skirts in summer," she said. "I'll dare to wear anything I like, unless my underwear is exposed, and I feel proud when people look at me, even if it's in an impolite way. If you dare to dress sexily, you have to be prepared for raised eyebrows. Otherwise, don't do it."

Although Wang has never had a problem with her own parents, she has often found it difficult to persuade her friends to dress more "casually", because they are worried about their parents' reactions. "One of my friends never lets her parents see her in shorts," she said. "She changes into them after she leaves home, to avoid the nagging."

Cultural differences

"For me, most Chinese women dress conservatively, but there are still many very unconventional dressers on the subway or buses. American women are more open than Chinese. It's probably because of both cultural differences and historical background. Feminism might be part of the reason that American women assert themselves through their style of dress more than their Chinese counterparts," said Bridget O'Donnell, 25, a Shanghai-based software designer.

"In summer, a lot of women just wear bikini tops in my hometown of Detroit, and they wear even less when they travel to Florida," O'Donnell said, adding that Chinese women like to show off their legs, but in the US women wear longer pants and reveal more of their upper body than Chinese women.

O'Donnell said she has seen many Shanghai women wearing short dresses but thinks that's more about the fact that they've paid a lot of money for the clothes and want to be seen wearing them. "I don't think it's necessarily because Shanghai women want to look sexy, it's more like they seem to be following fashion," she said.

She said she has noticed a huge difference between Shanghai and Beijing. Beijing women cover up more, mostly wearing longer pants. Even on the beaches at Qingdao in Shandong province, people cover up, but that's mainly because they don't want their skin to tan in the sun, she added.

The Southeast-Asian countries O'Donnell has visited are much more conservative than China, she said. On a trip to Malaysia in 2009, she thought it "unbelievable" that most of the women were covered from head to toe and she recalled how Vietnamese women wore long-sleeved shirts even on the hottest days.

Those of a religious or more traditional persuasion disagree with the current trend for revealing clothes. Dong Chunxi, a 49-year-old Buddhist from Beijing, said he is uneasy that Chinese women are wearing much less than 20 years ago. "It's all far too Westernized. Some would argue that it's a personal choice, but I think we should respect our traditions," he said.

Balance is a fundamental concept in traditional Chinese philosophy, and for Dong today's styles have already crossed the line. "As Buddhists, we believe too much desire is a distraction and not good for an individual or society as a whole. Today, people pay much more attention to the material world than the spiritual. We care so much about our bodies but not our souls. That people, both men and women, try to appear sexually attractive just serves as evidence of that," he said.

Contact the writers at huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn