Chinese Tattoo Designs and Info

Spend just a couple of minutes surfing the internet for information on Chinese tattoo designs to make sure you translate the meaning before they just go ahead a slap one on as it could literally say anything. Makes you wonder about all the times you went into a tattoo artist's workshop and flipped through the 100s of Chinese tattoos available looking for that perfect one which symbolized your life on this planet.

Everyone who has ever thought of buying a tattoo has considered the option of a Chinese tattoo design or for that matter a Korean or Japanese tattoo. Their mystery, design and hidden meanings prey on our curiosity like a moth to a flame. We picture friends and strangers asking with keen interest about our decision behind such a choice, which may even lead some people to create elaborate stories about their own life.

There is an endless mythic history in Asian cultures, and it's no wonder Westerners are drawn to these types of tattoos, Chinese designs are the most popular and sort after around the world. Part of the interest is how unique each character seems and so the chances of someone else having the same one is unlikely. The fact that they also look cool doesn't hurt either.

Most women are attracted to subtle meanings and over arching themes that these Chinese symbols can express, such as hope and freedom. Guys, on the other hand, are drawn to Chinese symbol tattoo designs because in western culture they're strongly associated with martial arts films .

So, if you are considering getting a Chinese tattoo, here is a quick beginners guide to Chinese symbols.

The system of Chinese writing began more than four thousand years ago and doesn't have an alphabet. This is perhaps the biggest difference for non Chinese people to understand.

Instead, Chinese writing relies upon a huge number of symbols that represent spoken ideas or concepts. Each symbol represents a different spoken word.

In 1710 the Kangxi dictionary was created by imperial decree and contained more than 47,000 symbols. However, since then that number has gone up to more than seventy thousand symbols to represent the growing number of nuances and meanings in the modern language.

Having said that, the average Chinese person only needs to know around five thousand of these Chinese symbols to be able to read and understand anything that's written in Chinese.