The Chinese have never really considered tattoos to be anything artistic, or even acceptable. A common idea is that one's body is a valuable gift from one's parents and should never be abused or defaced by a Tattoos.

The Chinese have never really considered tattoos to be anything artistic, or even acceptable. A common idea is that one's body is a valuable gift from one's parents and should never be abused or defaced by a Tattoos.

Depending on the severity of the offense, individuals who were tried and convicted of a crime by a court of law, were marked forever with a tattoo applied to the face. This happened during the early periods of Chinese history. The judge presiding over the case would then banish this marked criminal from the country for a set number of years. This form of punishment was called the "Ci Peo", which translates to "The Tattoo Exile."

In present day, the court system is significantly less severe the "Ci Peo" is much more likely to be used by an underground criminal society.

Famous Tattoos From History: In all of Chinese history there is one tattoo that really stand out. I'm talking about the most famous tattoo in all of Chinese culture.

During the Song Dynasty, in the South, a famous general, Yueh Fei, served under a field marshal who at the time was defending the enemy from the North. The general found that the field marshall had visited the enemy, and was so disgusted by the disloyalty of the actions that he resigned and returned home to care for his mother. Upon the generals return home, his mother was displeased.

She lectured the general about the soldier's duty of loyalty to his country. She was so intent on making sure that the admonishment was never forgotten that she had the words tattoos to his back . Yueh Fei returned and led another army to defend the country.

Common Symbols in Chinese Tattoos. 1 - Zodiac 2 - Family 3 - Strength 4 - Love 5 - Dragon

To avoid having a phrase tattooed on yourself that you don't know the meaning, use extreme caution when selecting characters.

Getting a tattoo in another language allows you to place information about yourself, and your beliefs in your tattoo without everyone being able to interpret it. One of the downsides to this resides in the fact that if you fail to properly research your tattoo, you might accidentally end up with a phrase you did not intend.

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