Yvonne Taylor (left) and Kayla Worden
American Kayla Worden, 31, and Briton Yvonne Taylor, 29, were arrested on Wednesday minutes after casting off red robes in front of dozens of onlookers.
They had unfurled banners reading "We'd rather go naked than wear fur" in English and Chinese, in protest at a fur trade fair due to open in the city on Friday.
The two women are members of animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which believes that the fur trade is cruel and unnecessary.
Cruelty is never in fashion and we want people to think twice before they buy fur
Yvonne Taylor
Ms Taylor, 29, who is from Edinburgh and works in a cat and dog shelter in London, said: "I'll exercise my right to bare arms, legs or the rest of me, even in China, if it helps save animals' skins."
During a previous protest in the UK, Ms Taylor stripped and posed as Lady Godiva to highlight a menopausal drug allegedly containing horses' urine.
She crouched in a cage in South Korea while the World Cup was being stage in opposition to the killing of cats and dogs for human consumption.
Chinese 'first'
Peta has staged several similar protests throughout the world, but this was the first on mainland China.
"Cruelty is never in fashion and we want people to think twice before they buy fur," said Ms Taylor during the demonstration.
Mainland China has never seen anything like it
The protest attracted dozens of onlookers, but most appeared stunned by the novelty of it.
The two women admitted to feeling the chill of the Beijing autumn.
"We are really cold out here," said Ms Worden, "but this is nothing compared to what the animals go through."
Temperatures reached nine degrees Celsius in the city on Wednesday.
Freezing winter temperatures in northern China and strong trade links with Russia make fur a thriving industry. BBC News.
