True enthusiasts of Chinese culture may be facing an unpleasant surprise: bikini-clad girls performing traditional Chinese opera in a beauty contest.

“In the Chinese final of the 36th Miss Bikini International Pageant last year, the girls wore hand-embroidered bikinis and headwear with distinct elements of Chinese operas, and they performed to the accompaniment of Chinese opera music,” said Li Yulong, the executive president of the organizing committee of the Miss Bikini International Pageant. This year, the girls reprised their shocking performance at the press preview for the 37th contest to take place later this year.

Compared to the relatively silent acceptance last year, their use of Chinese cultural elements has now come under heavy fire. A large majority of Chinese people believe it is erotic and is a sad commentary on today’s values that we need constant entertainment, to the detriment of the Guocui, or national cultural treasures.

“I am a Beijing Opera fan. I think its charm lies in its stylized performance elements, which has developed and matured thanks to the dedication of the artists to the stage art. Showcasing the opera by using bikini-clad girls is indeed a kind of blasphemy and a humiliation to the national art,” said 雨田仁荣 on his Sina Weibo account, a Chinese version of Twitter.

Li didn’t feel the same way. He says the headwear was used to demonstrate the traditional operas in a general way, arguing that the headwear would accentuate the Chinese flavor, and provide the western audience a window into the beauty of the traditional Chinese culture and Chinese aesthetics.

“We hoped to count on the popularity of the pageant to promote Chinese culture. We had no intention of ruining the image of Chinese opera.” Li said.