Bren Fisher asked:


Reports today came in that China’s Yuan (their currency for people who don’t know) dropped sharply today in response to a strong US dollar on the world market. This means that for people in China looking to get tattoo art, now’s a good time.

A lower Yuan means cheaper ink and cheaper labour compared to our money over here. Some might raise their prices to compensate, if that’s the case and you’re in China wanting some tattoo art, you better act fast!

In China, tattoo art is called We Shen or Ci Shen which translates as “Pierce the body”. While they’ve been around there for a long time, tattoos have been traditionally used as punishment to permanently mark criminals, not as body art. Many Triad and Tong groups use tattoos to determine rank and such.

However, since the rise of recent westernization, as well as an influx of tourists, the

tattoo art industy has become more prevalent in China. The drop of the Yuan could very well help them become even more common, especially in big cities.

The most famous example of tattoo art in China is commonly known as the Yueh Fei. Yueh Fei was a general who became disgusted with war due to a comrade’s defecting, and he went home to care for his sick mother. His mother was angry at him for this and as punishment tattooed four Chinese characters on his back from left to right, they are as follows: Ultimate, Loyalty, To Serve, Country. Yueh Fei ended up returning to the military and leading another army.

The weakening of the Yuan should even make importing tattoo art equipment from China cheaper. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep an eye out for items such as tattoo guns, ink, transfer papers and so on. This combined with the fact that many Chinese imports are not overwhelmingly expensive to start with should make for some good deals.



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