Chinese Tattoo

I found a photo-shopped picture of a Chinese girl with the word "water" in English on George Takei's facebook fan page (I de-activated my facebook right after.  Not because of George Takei, he's awesome).  Here's another example on reddit.

It looks ridiculous in English, but a Chinese tattoo would still have  aesthetic value, even if it's as simple as 水。

The act of writing English and Chinese are two different animals.  You mostly have to worry about two dimensions when writing in a typical rectangular grid.  Using a little extra space at the beginning or end will not be awkward to the typical English reader.



If one can decipher one out of 26 characters from the English alphabet, then you at least know the sound of the word.  English characters do not leave much room to the imagination, but it's an incredibly precise language system.

Chinese heavily involves 3 dimensions.  Not only do you have to be concerned with how you form your character, the height between the point of the brush and paper affect the depth of each stroke.  A good character has very strict criteria for balance that must fit within a square.



Oddly enough, a Chinese character like 水 would be a horrendously difficult word to master with calligraphy.  Words with few strokes are difficult to balance because abnormalities cannot hide behind other strokes.  Big long strokes are out in the open (phrasing).

Take for instance the character 永，longevity, written in 王羲之 Wang Xizhi's style.  He is considered to be the the most orthodox style for Regular Script Chinese, or the standard used for modern Chinese.  Wang's original for this character was lost, but we'll get into this another time.



Look at them curves!  The pauses, the control, the depth!

Once an individual can master the basics of Regular Script, you can perfect and express your own style with the act of writing.

Take a look and Emperor Huizong's calligraphy from the end of the Song Dynasty (1101 to 1123 AD):



Emperor Huizong's calligraphy looks very sharp.  Calligraphic scholars suggest that he used the very tip of his brush to write his words.  It implies he writes impulsively without restraint, much like an arrogant person.  We'll see that his extravagant lifestyle with his fancy rock collection and lavish tea farms would lead to his demise.  If I were any emperor, I would be him.

Every Christmas with my friends I somehow end up talking about tattoos, and the topic of Chinese characters pop up.  I would never get a tattoo, but I was somehow forced to choose I would choose these four characters.



These were tattooed onto the back of Yue Fei, one of China's most famous generals.  It means "serve the country with utmost loyalty."  More on this badass later!