Chinese character tattoo
Tattoos of Chinese characters in calligraphic style
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chinese character tattoos, also called Hanzi tattoos, are tattoos of Chinese characters. They are sometimes in Chinese calligraphic script, a stylized, artistic form of writing.[1]
History
Contemporary
Tattoos of Chinese characters and Japanese kanji are common in the modern Western world.[3] They started becoming popular in the late 1980s or early 1990s among non-Asian Americans.[4] Some celebrities have them, such as Britney Spears and David Beckham, along with professional basketball and football players.[5][6] Often the characters used are ungrammatical, meaningless, or incorrectly drawn, as neither the tattoo artist nor the recipient understand the languages.[4][7] Some tattoo artists use an incorrect reference sheet to try to translate English letters into Chinese characters.[8]
Asian Americans, Asian New Zealanders and other people with Asian ancestry sometimes choose to get tattoos with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean characters that reflect their heritage.[9][10] Joey Pang, a Chinese-born tattoo artist in Hong Kong, has specialized in Chinese calligraphy tattoos for Chinese customers.[3]