Chinese calligraphy tattoos

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Cursive Chinese calligraphy Tattoo Temple Cursive Calligraphy Joey Pang web sq.jpg
Cursive Chinese calligraphy
Tattoo of Chinese characters Xiong Di Ming Yu  (xiongdi mingyu, "honorable brotherhood") Tattoo Xiong Di Ming Yu .jpg
Tattoo of Chinese characters 兄弟名誉 (xiōngdì míngyù, "honorable brotherhood")

Chinese calligraphy tattoos are tattoos of Chinese characters in a calligraphic style. Today, Chinese calligraphy tattoos can be found worldwide.

Contents

Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy is the stylized, artistic writing of Chinese characters; the written form of Chinese that unites the languages spoken in China. Calligraphy is considered supreme among the visual arts in China and sets the standard for which Chinese painting is judged. Chinese calligraphy and painting are closely related. [1] [ needs context ]

History

In pre-modern China, textual tattoos were used as a punishment for criminals. Criminals would get textual tattoos on their cheeks and foreheads of the crime that they committed and would therefore have their crime on display for the rest of their lives. [2]

Tattoos of Chinese characters and Japanese kanji are common in the modern Western world; often the characters used are ungrammatical, meaningless or incorrectly drawn, as neither the tattooist nor the recipient understand the languages in question and merely choose the characters based on their aesthetic appearance. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

See also

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References

  1. Yee, Chiang (2014). "Chinese Calligraphy". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. Lei, Daphne (2009). "The Blood - Stained Text in Translation: Tattooing, Bodily Writing, and Performance of Chinese Virtue". Anthropological Quarterly. 82 (1): 99–127. doi:10.1353/anq.0.0044. S2CID   144291158.
  3. Schirmer, Dominique; Saalmann, Gernot; Kessler, Christl (16 April 2006). Hybridising East and West: Tales Beyond Westernisation : Empirical Contributions to the Debates on Hybridity. Lit. ISBN   9783825801557 via Google Books.
  4. "Chinese Alphabet Nonsense | East Asia Student". eastasiastudent.net.
  5. B, A. "Stupid Chinese Character Tattoos That Make No Sense".
  6. "30 People Fluent In Chinese/Japanese Share The Worst Tattoos They've Seen".
  7. DeMello, Margo (30 May 2014). Inked: Tattoos and Body Art around the World [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9781610690768 via Google Books.