Hi guys!
It’s good to see this forum gathering so many cool fellas fond of a common interest: Tattoo.
I’m from China, and I’m in for a tattoo myself in the near future. Currently I’m thinking of getting a two-character Chinese word, something deep, Confucius-y I think. I don’t worry about it at all, cuz I’ve been familiar with Chinese since I was born and given some time I’ll definitely come up with a fantastic word that’s perfect for me. In the meantime, if there’s some nice ideas you have here please share with me and any input will be appreciated~
As I’m now contemplating my own personal word for my tattoo, it came to me that if you guys here need some help with Chinese tattoo.
If Chinese tattoo interests you in some certain way, please contribute to this topic by asking the top three questions you have about Chinese tattoo, whatever pops into your head is fine, and I’m 100% guaranteed to be of help. I guess this will benefit both of us since your question will also be answered, plus during the process of asking the question that you have I might be inspired in some way to figure out THE WORD for my tat. Win-win play.
So cheers, fire your questions away:)
Hi Fann
As it happens I am writing a book on the subject of Tattooing and Cultural Taboo (The Personal Experience Of Ink).
So here is my three questions;
1. Since tattooing in ancient China was often associated with criminality – has this cultural taboo changed any in modern day China.
2. What are the Chinese characters for the phrase ‘The sound of silence, is the sound between each beat of my heart’.
3. If you could have a tattoo by any artist (does not have to be a tattoo artist) alive or dead who would it be and why?
Mine would be Michaelangelo – anybody who could paint the Sistine Chapel can tattoo me anyday. 😀
Take Care
Matthew
If your goin for a one word tat that is “deep” you may be searching for that word word for a long time unless the deffinition of the word itself is deep. I know the only word that i can think of that fits the profile A word that has always stood out in my mind as being very interesting is the word (got to look up spelling)
………..transcendence
from wiktionary
[edit] Pronunciation
tran*scend”ence
[edit] NounSingular
transcendence
Plural
countable and uncountable; plural transcendences
transcendence (countable and uncountable; plural transcendences)
(countable) the act of surpassing usual limits
(uncountable) the state of being beyond the range of normal perception
(uncountable) the state of being free from the constraints of the material world, as in the case of a deity
[edit] Related termstranscend
transcendency
transcendent
transcendental
transcendently
[edit] Antonymsimmanence
Retrieved from “http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transcendence”
I like the idea of ” the state of being beyond normal perception” to me that is very deep
But would you consider a whole phrase? you could choose one of the following
Man who run in front of car get tired.
Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.
Baseball is wrong – man with four balls cannot walk.
War doesn’t determine who is right, war determines who is left.
Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cathouse.
Man who fight with wife all day get no piece at night.
It take many nails to build crib but one screw to fill it.
Man who drive like hell bound to get there.
Man who lives in glass house should change clothes in basement.
Man who fishes in other man’s well often catches crabs.
Don’t eat the snow where the huskies go!
Support bacteria — it’s the only culture some people have!
Man who lose key to apartment not get new key.
He who sitteth on an upturned tack shall surely rise.
Even the greatest of whales is helpless in middle of desert.
Man who sit on tack get point!
Man who jumps off cliff, jumps to conclusion!
just kidding
Hi Sherav!
It’s been a busy weekend for me and I’m sorry for the delay. Here are the answers for the three questions.
1. The tattoo taboo has somewhat changed in modern day China, but not in an obvious way. To a Chinese above the age of 40 or 45, a tattoo would usually mean an extra-huge Chinese dragon inked on the back of a gangster member, who is extremely dangerous. However, in the eyes of the younger population, the idea of tattooing is much more different and positive. Personally I believe this has a lot to do with Amercian TV series “Prison Break”. To my outdoor experience in Shanghai, I’ve seen quite a few young people bearing small tattoos on their bisap, forearm, ankles, sometimes waist. They are proud to show their tattoos and people are usually OK with these small size tattoos. As to huge ones, people, including me, still believe that only bad guys choose to do that.
So in conclusion, the society still have issues with tattoo while there has been quite a change amony the young population.
2. In a literal way of translating, the Chinese characters for the phrase would be “宁静的声音存在于我的两次心跳间隔之间”. But as you may know, Chinese lay pretty much emphasis on “connotation”, so a better version in Chinese for your phrase would be “静谧之声，存乎我心”(pinyin for your reference: jing mi zhi sheng, cun hu wo xin)
3. I would prefer Li Bai (A.D. 701-762), the great poet of Tang dynasty, to be my tattoo artist. The poems of Li Bai is full of overflowing passion and wild imaginations, with a spirit of freedom and idealism. Of all the ancient Chinese poets Li Bai is definitely my favourite. I would love to have the poem 将进酒 (Invitation To Wine) inked on my back in the future.
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