Tattoo-Chinese tattoo-free tattoo designs

Yeah hot women with hot tattoos are just super hot! I actually tried to go to the convention on sunday with a friend, because I want to get a chinese dragon design done, but it was closed. On the website the schedule said it was open until 5pm each day, and we went at 2pm and they said it had finished for the day. I was slightly suspicious though that they simply didn’t let us in because we had no visible piercings or tattoos.

Good selection. I love tattoos, especially when they’re not on me. It’s easy this way, I can really appreciate them without changing my appearance for life.
I particularly like the 2nd, third and fourth ones. Whoever would tattoo their entire face really doesn’t fit in with the bulk of people, but that’s cool. And that baby one is creepy and soooo well done. And the Asian girl, well, she’s just cute.

As China has taken its cultural cues from the West in recent years, and has experienced increased exposure to rock, Hip Hop music and NBA players (nearly half of whom are tatted), the tattoo has become an accessory that defines the modern, rebellious nature of today’s Chinese youth culture. More and more Chinese youth, for whatever reason, are re-examining the tattoo as not a willful imperfection imposed upon the body, but as an expression of popular fashion. Tattoo parlors can be found in the smallest Chinese cities serving the impulse of China’s hip to indelibly mark their bodies with designs and words.
 

The convention concludes Monday night with awards and a closing ceremony. As tattoo culture catches on in today’s China, the Tattoo Show Convention will surely attract more and more tattoo enthusiasts in years to come.

A girl shows her tattoos during the Tattoo Show Convention China 2007 in Beijing June 16, 2007.

During the Cultural Revolution, Mao banned tattoo art on the grounds that it signaled impurity and ruffianism, and even today members of the Chinese army are forbidden to have tattoos. However, tattoos have figured into the cultures of several of China’s ethnic minorities, most notably the Drung and Dai minorities. During Imperial times, tattoos were also used to mark the faces of convicted rapists and murderers - the marring of the physical body with ink was seen as a reflection of the impurity of the mind of the criminal. The negative associations linked with tattoos are still widespread in China. Tattoo art and body modification art in remain largely a counterculture phenomenon and artists working in the medium still struggle to be recognized as such. Just last week, the Beijing Olympic Committee announced that people with tattoos would not be considered to host the opening and medal ceremonies for the 2008 games. The principal of the Beijing Institute of Protocol told the press, “We don’t want anyone who looks in any way sleazy because that could really put athletes off.”

Like any good convention, suppliers were on hands hawking the latest in tattoo products. A supplier booth at the Beijing tattoo shows costs 1,500 USD, a substantial fee for mainland China’s tattoo merchants. Seventy-six suppliers from China, Indonesia, France, Germany and England rented booths for the occasion.

According to the convention’s official site, the aim of the event was for tattoo enthusiasts to “use their imagination to experience and join in the happy art dimension.” While there is no specific theme of the Chinese tattoo show, the convention’s planners focus on xiu, the concept of the Chinese tattoo that “connects everyone, expresses affection, and helps people communicate more.”

Though tattoos in China still draw scorn from Chinese elders and double-takes from straight-laced youth, this weekend China’s tattoo enthusiasts gathered in Beijing for China’s Tattoo Show Convention 2007. Until recently, tattoos in China were reserved for those with ties to organized crime, a prison record or membership to one of China’s tribal minorities for whom body art has long been a custom. In today’s China, as evidenced by over 1000 tattoo artists, suppliers and amateurs from all of China’s provinces who attended the opening ceremony, the tattoo has taken on a entirely new and mainstream cultural significance.
The 3-day convention at the Sunshine Art Space in Beijing opened Saturday morning with a welcoming ceremony and a sign-up session for anyone who wished to get tatted during the event. The following days included various tattoo competitions, a comparative exhibit on Chinese and Western tattoo philosophies and different presentations of tattoos within China and all over the world.

A man shows the designs on his face during the Tattoo Show Convention China 2007 in Beijing June 16, 2007.

We will hold the 2010 china tattoo convention like a party, because the convention now is not just a place for skill learning, we prefer to provide a plat for those tattoo aritists to communicating. Our convention will invite chinese tattoo artists and international tattoo masters.

Tattoo Show Convention China 2007 opens on Saturday, June 16, in Beijing. Many famous tattoo artists from China and abroad feel proud to display their fine art of skin drawings.

The Tattoo Show Convention China 2007 has opened in Beijing on Saturday, showcasing some of the country’s best artists and their subjects.

The three-day tattoo show brings an unprecedented display of the fine art of drawing on skin with many famous tattoo artists from China and abroad.

Today, tattoos are not only a symbol of rebelliousness, but also a unique art expression people can accept and view with a new perspective.

Today, most people choose to get tattooed for cosmetic, religious or magical reasons, or to show they identify with a particular group. Some Māori still choose to wear the intricate moko tattoo on their faces. In Cambodia and Thailand, the yantra tattoo confers protection.

Lin Lin says her tattoo also has special meanings.
 
“I have something good to remember, so I want to keep the tattoo as a reminder.”

Some people are particularly interested in “auspicious” images, like Chinese ghosts, dragons and phoenixes. But Chinese youth are just as likely to choose images from the West.

Wanghao says a lot of his customers also ask for tattoos that relate to music.

“Most of the customers in my shop get tattoos related to music or alternative foreign culture. For example, people ask for the same tattoo as their favorite singer, or the kind of tattoos foreign bands favor.”

Even animals get tattoos, though it’s rarely for decorative reasons. Pets, show animals, thoroughbred horses and livestock often have identification marks tattooed on their skin. For example, pet dogs and cats are often tattooed with a serial number so their owners can be found if they get lost.

The growth in tattoo culture has caused a new influx of artists into the industry. Like Wanghao, many have technical and artistic training. The pigments and equipment used to create tattoos has also become more technically advanced. So the quality of the tattoos created today has improved.

Wanghao’s shop is equipped with all the modern tools. He says there are a series of procedures you have to follow when you create a tattoo.

“First we have to disinfect the skin we are going to tattoo. Then we will outline the design before coloring it. It’s actually not that painful. It makes the skin feel numb and most people can bear it.”

But tattoos still have a number of negative associations. For example, the Chinese associate them with criminals because people used to be given distinctive tattoos when they were released from prison as a warning sign to other people.
Tattoos are usually considered permanent but it’s often possible to remove them to some extent. Unfortunately, complete removal is often impossible and it’s often more painful to remove them than to get them in the first place.
Wanghao says everyone should think twice before they enter a tattoo parlor.

“If you have a tattoo, you’d better not think of removing it. As far as I know, some shops and artists use lasers to destroy unwanted tattoos. And some use chemicals. But that may result in permanent scars.”

Tattoos have been around in Eurasia since at least Neolithic times. They also have a long history in China. Tattoos used to be associated with criminal behaviors, but now it’s becoming popular again after falling out of favor for decades.

Lots of young people today bear tattoos on different parts of their bodies with designs ranging from pretty flowers to scary-looking skulls and ghosts. Let’s hear more from our reporter Manling
“I thought it was fun and my boyfriend encouraged me, so I decided to have this tattoo.”

22-year-old Lin Lin from Beijing’s Capital Normal University had her boyfriend’s last name tattooed to her back.
This art form may have fallen out of favor in the early 1900s, when tattoos were associated with gangsters, but increased exposure to the West is causing their popularity to grow again. Tattoos are actually part of Chinese tradition and local tattoo artists are making their mark on this rediscovered art form.

A tattoo is a mark made by inserting pigment just under the ski. In technical speak, it’s dermal pigmentation.

Almost every culture in the world has developed its own form of tattooing at some point in time. Tattoos were frequently used by the Polynesian people, and certain tribal groups in the Philippines, Borneo, Africa, the Americas, Europe, Japan,Cambodia and China. Despite the taboos that surround the art, tattoos are still popular all over the world.

In Beijing, tattoo studios are emerging like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Lin Lin got her tattoo from the Mummy Tattoo Studio in Beijing’s Sanlitun bar street.

“There are so many of them, usually some places that are bustling with people, like Xidan.”

Wanghao is the owner of the Punxtattoos Tattoo parlor in Beijing’s Haidian District. He started his own business four years ago.

“I have been learning fine arts since I was young. And I love punk music. Later a foreign friend of mine suggested I join them. So I decided to open this shop.”

The word “tattoo” is commonly believed to have derived from the Samoan or Tahitian word tatau, meaning to mark or strike twice. The first syllable “ta”, meaning “hand”, is repeated twice in reference to the repetitive nature of the action. The final syllable “U” means “color”.

Polynesian tattoo artists pierce the skin with an instrument called the hahau. The repeated syllable “ha” means to “strike or pierce”

A lot of the world’s indigenous people traditionally use tattoos. They’ve been used to mark rites of passage, status or rank, religious and spiritual devotion, bravery, sexual desirability and fertility. They can symbolize a promise of love, or act of a form of punishment. They can act as amulets and talismans, provide protection, or mark their bearers out as outcasts, slaves and convicts.