Foreigners’ Chinese Tattoos

The title of this original post from Tianya was “Talk about some stupefied individual foreigners’ tattoos, not understanding Chinese is really frightening”. Tattoos of Chinese characters can be really beautiful and artistic, some also can be meaningful and speak the words of wisdoms, however some of the samples we have here really make us wonder if the person or even the tattoo artist understood the meaning of these words. If you don’t understand Chinese and ever were thinking about getting a tattoo of Chinese characters, the advice is to get a second opinion from your knowledgeable Chinese friend.

It says “This is tattoo”, kind of obvious…

Is that Mao?

壮女 “Buff Girl” she is buff…

宦官：eunuch, A eunuch is a castrated man, usually one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences.

The term usually refers to those castrated (without their consent) in order to perform a specific social function, as was common historically in many societies.

“Coffin Man”

Not sure what this means…

人妖: An abnormal human phenomenon or a ladyboy; a person who is physically abnormal or pretends to be a person of his or her opposite sex; refers to a man who has had a sex change operation and tries to make a living performing as a female.

“Bad Boy”

“Cricket”

We think it should be 尽忠报国, comes from the story of famous Chinese patriot Yue Fei. According to historical records and legend, Yue had the four Chinese characters (simplified Chinese: 尽忠报国; traditional Chinese: 盡忠報國 – "serve the country with the utmost loyalty") tattooed across his back. The Biography of Yue Fei says after the traitor Qin Hui sent agents to arrest Yue and his son, he was taken before the court and charged with treason.

However on his arm, the 3rd and 4th characters are tattooed backwards.

義: righteousness, justice… nothing wrong with that

忠：Loyalty

Heaven and earth, I am the only one to be respected. (extremely conceited and egotistical person)

“Chicken”

“Love… sexual activities”

This makes no sense

生死有命富贵在天: Pretty famous saying, direct translation is “life or death, rich or poor is all up to fate.” also means every bullet has its billet, dying is as natural as living.

Dragon, bravery… not sure what it means.

静: quiet, peaceful…

Probably a direct translation of his English name, but the 2nd character is up side down.

Jack from Lost: 鹰击长空, I looked this up, it is actually the Chinese name of the video game Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X

Kong fu, Sadness?

It says “I am here”

Not sure what 勉族 means

“Daddy is always in my heart”

“Father and Mother”, except using 母 (mother) instead of 娘 (informal) would be much more suitable

“Golden Roster”

“I love you”

贱: cheap, lowly, despicable… it’s a bad word.

“Monkey”

尊重乾盛: “Respect…” does not make sense. 2nd character is a typo also.

This one looks like a spell.

Another “low life person” 贱人: Slut, bitch

“Fire Power”

“I don’t eat meat 88 but I bite”

Women with the “Chicken” tattoo again

“Wish my father blesses and protects me”

Magic bird? not sure what it really means.

色 means color or pornography, perverted

凶 means unlucky, ill omen

“Overcome difficulties together” usually describes friendship.

“None of your business”

“Cherish time”

百无禁忌: “All taboos in abeyance”

“Friendly”

His name?

呆子: fool, idoit

"Screw here”

He is a “Virgo”

“Crazy Diarrhea” This guy must have digestion problems.

Another “Coffin man”

不成功便成仁: means “succeed or die”

They have the character “昆”. could be a name, or else it has no meaning by itself.

“Talk dragon love”, and the character “love” is written backwards

‘”Fuck your mom”, the ultimate Chinese cuss words…

?!?!?!??!?!? not only the hand writing is bad, some characters are tattooed backwards and they make no sense.

Tattoo on the back, this one is much better.

君子欲讷于言而敏于行: Confucius said “A gentleman must speak carefully, and be agile with his actions.”

Heaven and earth, I am the only one to be respected. (another extremely conceited and egotistical person)

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