Chinese Tattoo – Understanding the Script

When getting a Chinese tattoo, you should keep in mind that tattoos were never considered acceptable in Chinese society. The Chinese call getting a tattoo "Wen Shen" or "Ci Shen", which translate to "puncture the body." The Chinese consider the body to be a precious gift that shouldn't be defaced by anything, especially a tattoo. Long ago, criminals in China were often tattooed on their faces as a way of branding them permanently for all to see. In modern China however, criminals still get tattoos, but they do it willfully.

That being said, Chinese tattoos are very popular in parts of the world other than China. Many times people get phrases in Chinese script tattooed on them. Care should be taken, though, that the Chinese phrase really says what you think it says. You wouldn't want to walk around with a phrase tattooed on you without knowing the meaning. Instead of trusting what the tattoo artist tells you, it's best to ask a person who speaks, reads and writes Chinese natively for some information beforehand.

The most common things to have translated into Chinese for the purpose of a tattoo are people's names and phrases that have to do with qualities we look for in people like, love, strength, honor, etc. However, sometimes with names translated into Chinese, it doesn't sound good spoken, but may look very artful on the tattoo. And with phrases, they may not translate back and forth between English and Chinese very well, so for tattoos you might want to stick with a phrase that is well-known in Chinese and translates well back to English.

The chosen Chinese phrase on your tattoo will be a great conversation piece. You will probably want to be able to tell people the correct Chinese translation. And in the case of being approached by a person of Chinese descent, you wouldn't want to be embarrassed by having something dishonorable tattooed on you. So know what tattoo you are getting!

 

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