We met 64-year-old Zhang outside his convenience store in Yangmeizhu Xie Jie near Qianmen
What do you think about the fashion of young people getting tattoos?
“Young people’s tattoos don’t reflect Beijing culture. Back in the old times, tattoos were called ciqing (刺青). They were a mark to show your membership to an organization like a gang. It was these types of people who had tattoos.
It was different to how it is now: over time, other countries’ styles influenced new designs of tattoos. Now it’s a dragon or phoenix or an eagle, but back then they were a symbol for gangs – like the head of a wild beast.The tattoos were usually of this kind: old animal heads or tails. It wasn’t common for people to get tattoos other than to show membership of a gang. Now it’s all about whether the tattoos look good, rather than a mark of a particular group.
The process has changed a lot. People would just do it themselves with a needle, and the tattoos were larger.
Personally I don’t like tattoos. And I think that no matter who you are, tattoos aren’t considered OK. But a lot of old Beijing people especially dislike tattoos as they are viewed as provocative. Nobody wants to be associated with a gang, which the tattoo is a symbol of. So whether you are an ordinary person, rich, at the top, in the middle, or at the bottom [of the hierarchy] the opinion is that tattoos are not acceptable.
Also, it used to be that if you have a tattoo you couldn’t enter the army. People in the army shouldn’t be allowed to have any tattoos. Even really small ones.”
As told to Dominique Wong
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