[XeTeX] known problem with cross-references?

[brindle at stud.ntnu.no]

I was facing this problem lately. The cross-reference of tables  
(\label and \ref) would print the number/counter of the section in  
which the table was placed instead of its own number/counter. Then I  
found this strange solution on the net, which worked!!

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Labels_and_Cross-referencing#Fixing_wrong_labels

Fixing wrong labels


A label may sometimes pick up the section or list number instead of  
the figure number. In this case, put the label inside the caption to  
ensure correct numbering:

\begin{figure}
   \begin{center}
     \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{gull}
     \caption{Close-up of a gull \label{fig:gull} }
   \end{center}
\end{figure}



Can someone explain to me WHY?