Tattoos in modern China – a cultural overview.

Posted by Tadzio Goldgewicht on Sep 13, 2011 in Articles, Culture | 0 comments

Master Wushang traditional style painting.

“Art” and “China” are two words that can’t be separated. There is art in almost everything the Chinese person does, in cooking, dressing and even in politics. Some of the things that in my opinion define art are the level of skillfulness a person reveals when executing a certain task, how meaningful the task can become in a person’s life and how well can the task serve as a conduit through which the person can express himself. I will not commit the mistake of trying to define “art” in this article, but I can say, with some degree of certainty, that the three points above mentioned certainly comply with my personal understanding of it.

Art is a constant part of life in modern China, even though, most of the time, it passes unnoticed. Just as some other cultural aspects that have their roots in the beginning of the Chinese civilization, “art” has grown so deep into the thinking of the Chinese that it ceased to be an external element to become a part of the way people think of and understand life. As a cultural element it is so deeply rooted into the Chinese way of thinking that most people don’t even notice it anymore. But it is there, unnoticed, in those little things that we do every single day, and also noticed, very well noticed, in more evident artistic mediums such as literature, painting and tattoos. How the Chinese people express art in their everyday life is a fascinating subject and I will certainly write about it, but now I want to talk about one of those more noticeable mediums – tattoos.

Modern China has a very singular relationship with art. The well educated people, along with the ones that have received only mid-level education, will realize that China is a country with many different artistic expressions,  being also able to understand (with different degrees of realization) what they are and their level of deepness, even though they might not necessarily understand their particulars. The ones that were not favored with superior or mid-level education might still be proud of their own ancient cultural heritage, even though they might not be sure of what this heritage is. At the same time, there is the relationship between the government and art. Most people in the west know little about the Chinese government, the way it conducts the country and enforces the law. The idea that most people have is one of an authoritarian government, that doesn’t respect individuality, but in fact, this is not the case. The way in which the Chinese government conducts the country has modern and classic elements. For example the government might be modern in the sense that recognizes the value of western art, but classic in the sense that will utilize traditional values to decide what content is suitable to be absorbed. The main difference here being that in the west we are used to a more relaxed approach, having less evident government control on what art we are presented with. In China, as in the west, the control exists but it is much more evident. This, for foreigners, might seem very hard to understand, but “control” has been playing a major role in Chinese society for thousands of years. It is not something new that was recently introduced into the lives of the Chinese people. It is, as I understand, a direct legacy of Confucianism and Legalism, two schools of thinking that have undeniable social value. With this brief sumary being presented to the reader, we can then move on to our main topic.

Tattoos are not well accepted in China. Generally speaking the collective view of the Chinese people towards tattoos is very negative, evoking feelings of disgust and fear.

Tattoos are not well accepted in China. Generally speaking the collective view of the Chinese people towards tattoos is very negative, evoking feelings of disgust and fear. This is because tattoos were once the marks of criminals, who where branded so as to carry forever on their skin the mark of their crimes, as a remainder to society that those individuals have committed serious crimes and were not to be trusted. For the common Chinese person, tattoos are an indication that the person carrying them is not to be befriended neither trusted. It is an explicit reminder that “I should stay away from this person as much as I can”.  If, on the one hand, one could argue that the situation is a bit better in the bigger cities, on the other hand it is very different on the country side, where the associations I just mentioned are much stronger and taken much more seriously by the population. Consequently, when a person decides to perform any kind of activity related to tattoos he will be bringing to his life all the stigma that they represent. You get tattooed, you become a tattoo artist or you just develop an appreciation for it – it doesn’t really matter. You will bring prejudice into your life and you should be ready for the consequences. But, as a matter of fact, when a person develops an interest for tattoos in China, there is more, much more than the prejudice. There is the good side of it.

In modern China tattooing is earning its place under the sun as a legitimate form of art. Yet, as any other art form, there are those enthusiasts who have limitations which do not allow them to fully develop themselves as tattoo artists on their own right. Some others can work around their limitations to climb their way up the leather to become recognized tattoo artists. But there is a group, a small group of individuals, that undoubtedly take the art of tattooing to a higher level. It is of one of this individuals that I wish to talk about today. My friend, Master Wushang.

I met Wushang several years ago when I was thinking about getting my first tattoo. I have researched for several months, talked to a few artists and at the end, at the very end, that is when I found him. In China tattoo is not mainstream and, as I wrote, there is a lot of  prejudice against people involved in it, wherefore there are not so many places where you could go for reliable information on the subject. Shanxi cannot be considered a small city but still, there are very few tattoo artists here, and the ones we have, even though they work hard and might still improve, are certainly not at the “artistic” level. In most of the medium size cities in the west I would just have to go to the next newsstand and get myself a tattoo magazine, maybe go to a bookstore and buy a good book about the subject or find out a tattoo studio with a good reputation and talk to the artist for a while. Yet, here, all I had was the internet. There are ( I believe) two or three different tattoo magazines in China but you cannot buy them on a newsstand, you have to subscribe. Therefore, as of now, the internet is still the best way to find information on the subject. Now, the internet being what it is, information is easy to come buy. Reliable information though, not so easy. Nevertheless I found Wushang and talked to him. I explained him what I wanted, talked to him about his own views on the subject and in no more than thirty minutes I knew I had found a real artist.

A view of Wushang's studio

Wushang has a studio in a small southern China town. When you walk into his studio the first thing you will notice is this strong connection with Chinese traditional culture. A red full size statue of a terracotta soldier, traditional paintings , beautiful Chinese flowers sculptured on the wall and different kinds of motives that all together seem to shout “traditional Chinese culture” on your ears. Having acquired a degree of fine arts with a specialization in oil painting from the Chinese fine arts institute, Wushang has an amazing aesthetic sense and a deep sensibility towards the fine arts.  One of the things that is most impressive about him is his ability to blend traditional Chinese art with modern art. This is not something easily done. Firstly one needs very deep knowledge of both traditional and modern art; secondly one needs to actually have the idea of putting everything together. It does, I confess, sound commonplace: to blend tradition and modernity. But the truth is that not having the necessary cultural and artistic background, most people would stop just there, at the “idea” part. To go pass the idea and actually blend these two elements in a suitable way is indeed extremely difficult. It is difficult because you have to do it in a balanced way, for too much of either one of the elements will unbalance the blend. To find the correct proportion of how much modernity you need into your traditional art is absolutely challenging.  But that is not enough, for after finding the correct balance you need to find a way to artistically express your uniqueness as a person, to add to your works that little something that only you can. This process takes years of constant effort and self commitment. Furthermore, it is a pleasure to see an artist with such sensibility and unique ideas.

At the same time traditional culture seems forgotten, there is the phenomena of cultural absorption.

The reader must understand how difficult it is to find such an artist. Culturally speaking, China is going through a very singular moment. There is no denying that China has an amazing cultural heritage, but it seems that in recent years not many people really care much for Chinese traditional culture. Of course, scholars, researchers and university students will care for it, as the subject might be their personal study field, but I feel that the common person (regardless of social or economic status) doesn’t really care for many important cultural aspects. Obviously, the common person will still perpetrate their own traditional culture, but as I wrote in the beginning of this article, this happens in a very subjective way. This culture is in almost anything they do – people still value their traditional holidays and in some ways they still think as they used to centuries ago, but the impression I have is that they do it in the same way that an anti-virus software acts: it runs on the background. In a sense this is good because it reflects the power that traditional culture still has on the lives of the Chinese people, but on the other hand it makes me think that just because “it runs on the background” it is becoming too subjective, almost ethereal. It is like one of those things you do over the years, and you keep doing it year after year, almost in a mechanical way, but you might not really remember why you do it. Therefore, it is a good thing you keep doing it, but the fact that you do it without thinking about it or without knowing the meaning of it does not feel very good. At the same time traditional culture seems forgotten, there is the phenomena of cultural absorption. By “cultural absorption” I mean the incorporation of western values into traditional Chinese culture. China has recently opened its doors to the world (recently in historical parameters) and many cultural elements and ideas that came from the west are in vogue right now. It is fashion to live according to some new western ideas. Then, there is the aspect of changing. The Chinese people usually do not welcome change very well. In China new things take time to be absorbed by the local culture. Of course there is the absorption of Korean soap operas with their clothes, hair styles and such things, but these are superficial elements that do not reach the core of  Chinese culture.  Culturally speaking the Chinese were always very happy whith what they had and were never really fond of opening their own culture for the absorption of new elements. It happened more than once, it is true, but as a rule it is uncommon. If we put the current cultural situation in perspective, then it becomes easier to understand the value of artists such as Wushang, that having a deep knowledge of both traditional and modern art, promote a fantastic blend that results in works that are extremely beautiful, meaningful and deep.

A beautiful full back design by Wushang.

Such desire to blend tradition and modernity allows Wushang to create fantastic correlations between, for example,  two iconic cultural elements, the famous poet Li Bai and the punks, or traditional Chinese oil painting and western style tattooing. His work represents, in my opinion, a new dawn to Chinese culture, a new cultural era that was long due and that brings back to life those amazing cultural elements that still remain forgotten, running on the background. This “new Chinese culture” is very important because by blending the traditional with the new you create interest, especially amongst the youth and the middle aged population. Generally speaking, the older generation will have their cultural values set to a default which is basically a blend of Confucianism and Legalism, and they will be very resistant to the idea of changing them. With the younger generation, accepting new ideas is a much easier process and by appreciating works of art such as those of Master Wushang this process can happen in a way that is most desirable to the Chinese – by maintaining your own traditional culture as your main venue and at the same time allowing yourself to be free enough so as to absorb elements from other cultures. The reader will notice that in this approach the cultural focus is still on the Chinese culture, but  foreign elements certainly play an essential role, being directly absorb into it, thus reinvigorating the old and turning it into something more appealing to the youth.  It is only through change that we progress and what Wushang teaches us is that “changing” does not mean giving up your own culture. This is certainly very important in this particular moment of the Chinese history. In a moment when traditional culture runs on the background, when most part of the population take their own culture for granted and foreign values and ideas are in vogue, the reminder that we can absorb the new without forgetting the traditional is positively welcoming. This kind of cultural self assurance is very important during this historical moment because China is establishing its role as a major international player and this will be better accomplished if the country has a strong cultural identity. I am not arguing, of course, that China does not have a cultural identity. It does. The key point here is that culturally speaking China is facing a singular moment, a moment of choice. For most part of the population this passes unperceived, but for the vanguard artists I would say that it is clear that China is at a cultural crossroads and the direction it chooses to take will determine its next cultural cycle.

Artists such as Wushang are not only giving us an amazing preview of what this next cycle could look like, they also directly contribute by rising our consciousness on the subject, thus allowing us to see a bit further than we often can, glimpsing into a world that is visually stunning and spiritually overwhelming.

Master Wushang can be reached at: Wushang Wentu