Please Understand Your Chinese Tattoos

A swimmer shows an Olympic rings tattoo just before the 2008 Games in Beijing. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Every so often, people email me asking for the right Chinese characters for a Chinese tattoo. As a general policy, I'm against aiding this endeavor because:

1. I'm not proficient enough in Chinese to accurately pinpoint the most poetic phrasing for tattoos. 2. I don't want to be responsible for someone's unhappiness at a botched tatt. 3. (and most importantly) I just don't think people who want a Chinese tattoo really think about what they're doing.

A woman with tattoos makes a call during the 2007 Midi Music Festival in Beijing. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for self-expression and I have found many Asian-inspired tattoos very beautiful, but I really wish people who don't understand a language they are about to have permanently inked underneath their skin would think twice. And then I wish they would find a Chinese person and ask them what they think of the idea.

Like any tattoo, the decision of subject matter should be made with great consideration and understanding. Sporty Spice, aka. Melanie Chisholm, had "girl power" tattooed on her arm in Chinese. It was written as: 女力, which isn't really a word or phrase in Chinese. It could mean "girl power," but it can also mean "female labor." (As a result, this high-profile mis-tatt seems to have thoroughly entered Chinese-language consciousness as a term for female empowerment. Popular Taiwanese aritist Landy Wen even has a song called 女力. Check out the video here.)

In another example, Stephen Bekes at Logoi.com relates a story where a girl who thought she had "free" tattooed on her body found out it was the Chinese word for "free of charge." There's even a website, Hanzismatter.com, dedicated to the daily misuse of Chinese characters, on tattoos and other things.

A girl attends the Midi Annual Music Festival 2001 in Beijing. (Photo by Kevin Lee/Newsmakers)

If you are dead-set on a Chinese tattoo, there are a number of online websites that can assist for a fee. Chinese-Tattoo-Designs.com even has some pictures of tattoos that were inked incorrectly and offers their services for the right way of inking in Chinese.

Finally, if you are planning to have your name tattooed on your body in Chinese, consider whether you would do it if it was in English. If you were Alan Iveson, would you have "Alan" tattooed on your shoulder? (Then again, maybe that isn't the best example.) But my point is, what makes the ridiculousness of the idea any different just because it's in Chinese script?

I know it's cool. I many circles, a Chinese-language tattoo is still considered original and different. But if you truly want a tattoo with meaning, find one in a language you understand. It makes having the tattoo that much more enjoyable. Or there's the alternative of picking a symbol, Chinese or otherwise, that has great meaning to you. Please don't force me to write a post on the overuse of the Ying-yang symbol though.

For a hilarious satirical take on the "phenomenon" of Chinese kids getting English alphabet tattoos check out this article from Usedwigs.com.