Tattoo's controversial image in China is hard to wash off

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The class is over, but Adriaan Maartens' students still cluster around him. The South African is a senior teacher at an English learning center for 3- to 12-year-olds.

"Where are you going on your day off?" the little boys and girls want to know. Maartens, 37, responds by opening his shirt a little to reveal his tattoo. He's got the Great Wall inked onto his right breast.

"I just show the tattoo, and they know exactly where I'm going," he told Metropolitan.

Maartens says "showing off" his tattoo makes it very clear to the students and their parents how much he loves China.

"They are amazed by it. Showing my tattoo cannot and has never changed their attitude toward me," he said.

Maartens' experience of cultural acceptance is not an isolated case. In the past decade, tattoos have become a fashionable trend among China's younger generation. But it is not a new practice. Tattooing has come a long way in China and has taken on diverse meanings. Ethnic minorities such as the Li people in Hainan Province practice the art of tattooing their women's faces as a cultural custom. But historically, tattooing was most known as a way to punish and mark criminals, according to researcher Chiu Shuping's 2014 analysis of the differences in lifestyle and tattoo culture acceptance between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. For some, the negative image still adheres to tattoos until today.

At its most recent international game against Wales in March, the Chinese soccer team made headlines not because they lost the game six nil but because the players were told to hide all visible tattoos with skin-colored bandages. The tattoo ban in soccer followed a similar ban on actors with tattoos in January. 

Half art, half trade

Yu Guangming, the founder of Jinxi Tattoo, has his own understanding of the recent tattoo ban. "Tattoos are still not very recognized in China, so public figures have to look out for that and maintain a positive image. It might influence a lot of kids who like football for example," he explained.

Yu, 32, experienced the development of the Chinese tattoo industry first hand. Raised by his father in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, he tattooed his knuckles at age 13.

"I was into drawing and fringe art since I was a kid," said Yu.

At age 19, he met a tutor who led him into the industry. In the same year, he opened up his first tattoo parlor in Beijing. Today, tattooing is both his art and trade. 

He has won several awards for his hand and chest tattoos and black sleeves and has mastered the Chinese, European and American tattooing styles.

"The government is neither supporting nor suppressing the industry. As long as you are not harming the society, they give you a small piece of earth for your economic self-development," said Yu, explaining why tattoo parlors have been mushrooming all over Chinese cities in the past years.

He also recalled the hardships of his first days as a tattoo artist back in 2005.

"I was only an apprentice for 10 days. There was nothing much to learn, to be honest. Nobody was really good at tattooing at the time," he said. Today, he is the owner of four shops in Beijing and Shanghai and the vice president of the Beijing branch of the Sino-US Tattoo Art Association.

"[When we started] we had no customers and no social recognition. Neither the country nor ordinary people recognized tattoos as an art form," he recalled.

"[Now,] China is the country with the biggest development in the tattoo industry, and its perspective is also the best."

According to Yu, the demand has rapidly increased in the last three or four years, and the customers are increasingly sophisticated. He said they tend to know a lot about tattoo designs and look at professionalism, style, reputation and hygienic standards as well as price when selecting a tattoo artist.

"It explains why professional tattoo shops like ours are becoming more popular. The clients understand the art and aesthetics, so they are willing to spend money on it," Yu said. 

His rate is around 2,500 yuan ($400) per hour, and according to him, his clients include college students, married couples, or even white-collar workers in State-owned companies.

"[They] usually place their tattoos on hidden parts of the body where nobody can see it," he said. 

Girls with tattoos

Luo Huangtianyu, 27, is one of those white-collar workers. She has nine small tattoos, a mix of cartoon characters and Chinese words, spread over her body. The most daring one is a blood red emperor-style seal on her wrist, which means happiness in traditional Chinese.

"If I had tattoos that were huge, for example, covering my entire neck or arm, strangers might judge," she said. "But since most of my tattoos are kind of cute, people ask me about it in the workplace."

She works for an international company and says that her tattoos are not an issue for her employer, as long as she dresses properly.

Telling her parents was a different story. Luo was afraid they would get mad at her. But her mom's reaction surprised her.

"My mom got a tattoo because she wanted to know why I liked it so much," she said.

However, the growing popularity of tattoos in China does not mean that they are socially accepted. As some social groups gradually accept tattoos, others still stigmatize inked skin. 

When international student Caroline Santos, 20, was paying at a grocery store a few days ago, she overheard an elderly woman whispering to her husband.

"Look at her arm! It is not appropriate for girls to have tattoos," the woman was saying, referring to the running wolf and "let's be free" lettering inked on the inside of Santos' left arm. 

In the past, Santos had to keep her tattoos covered for a part-time job as a translator in the UK. So, she reasons that if she were to apply for a job in China, she would most likely have to hide her tattoos from her employer. Still, she said she doesn't understand why people should have to hide them in the workplace. 

"Tattoos do not define how hardworking someone is," she said.

American Skye Chavis, an international student in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, said that her friends often talk about the negative image associated with tattoos and their wearers.

"They often say people will probably think I'm a bad girl for having tattoos, like I'm not a good person or maybe they will be afraid of me," she said. 

Chavis, 23, has also had problems with her tattoos in her romantic relationships.

"My Chinese ex-boyfriend was concerned about my tattoos in a controlling way. I got my Chinese tattoo while I was dating him. After that he said not to get any more," she said.

Chavis, who has also shaved her head, hopes that her unconventional style will inspire girls to look and dress how they want and not let mainstream society decide for them.

"I have noticed that girls are expected to look and dress in a certain way here, and no one questions it. My Chinese ex, for example, said that girls should have long hair, but he couldn't even say why," Chavis said.

Being different was exactly what Zhai Tianyi, 28, was seeking when she inked her high school boyfriend's name onto her neck at 18. However, people in Shandong Province, where she was raised, were not in favor of inked skin.

"I like things with personality and character. At that time, none of my schoolmates had a tattoo. Most of them thought having tattoos meant you were a bad kid and contributed nothing to society; they did not think of the meaning behind tattoos. So, people thought of me as a bad kid during high school," she said.

Today, she has an arm full of English words, hearts and arrows. Also, a large tattoo is in the making on her back. 

"Young people in Beijing are open toward tattoos, especially those working in creative industries, such as the fashion industry. But older people can't take it," she said. "They still think that tattoos mean mafia."

Source: Global Times

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1096810.shtml

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