HONG KONG — Taxi drivers in a northwestern Chinese language metropolis just lately acquired an unusually blunt authorities directive: Do away with your tattoos.
The order got here in August as transportation officers within the metropolis, Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, rolled out a marketing campaign to spruce up the picture of native cabdrivers. Ostensibly, the no-tattoo rule was meant to maintain some passengers from feeling uncomfortable.
It additionally coincided with nationwide efforts to dampen the rising reputation of tattoos amongst youthful generations, who’re more and more embracing the once-stigmatized physique artwork.
However one driver in Lanzhou needed to maintain the ink, and took to an internet authorities discussion board to ship a well mannered, however pointed, rebuttal to the town’s order.
“When making use of for our driver allow, we submit paperwork displaying that now we have no legal data,” wrote the driving force, who was not recognized within the publish and couldn’t be reached for remark. “Our tattoos don’t flip us into unhealthy guys and criminals.”
The driving force famous that eradicating tattoos was painful and costly, requiring repeat visits to clean traces of everlasting ink from the pores and skin by means of laser expertise. The method may depart scars and pale patches of shade.
The federal government’s order was merely discriminatory, the driving force mentioned.
However in a public response on Sept. 7, Lanzhou’s transportation committee didn’t budge. With out providing proof, it mentioned that “massive tattoos on drivers might trigger misery to passengers who’re ladies and kids.”
The committee additionally insisted that “drivers who have already got tattoos ought to take away them by means of surgical procedures to the best extent doable.”
It was unclear how the tattoo removing could be enforced or who would pay for it. When reached by phone on Tuesday, representatives of the Lanzhou authorities declined to remark.
The committee’s response to the driving force was broadly reported throughout China, reviving an age-old debate in a rustic the place tattoos are being more and more embraced by youthful Chinese language however are nonetheless shunned by those that think about them a mark of criminality.
Tattoo tradition started to flourish in China because the nation opened as much as the West forward of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Western influences and popular culture resonated with Chinese language audiences. Extra entertainers and athletes started displaying tattoos in televised appearances, together with Lin Dan, a badminton Olympic champion who bared his ink-stained arms throughout competitions.
Tattoo parlors, schools and conventions multiplied. Some tattoo artists, reminiscent of Chen Jie and Joey Pang, pioneered a style that evokes Chinese ink paintings with watercolor-like strokes. Others have been influenced by a fragile new model of South Korean mini-tattoos, distinguished by pinprick-thin outlines and pastel colours.
In Japan, the place tattoos have lengthy been related to organized crime syndicates just like the yakuza, rules on tattooing have steadily loosened. Many bathhouses and scorching springs nonetheless bar tattooed guests in an try to exclude gang members. However in a boon for tattoo parlors and practitioners, the country ruled last week that tattooing didn’t require a medical license.
In China, the rising acceptance of tattoos has been resisted by conservative gatekeepers. Television censors blurred images of tattoos, in addition to cleavage and males’s earrings, in 2017 and in 2019. And Chinese language sports activities officers ordered soccer players with tattooed arms to wear long sleeves throughout the Asian Cup within the United Arab Emirates final 12 months.
Lanzhou’s directive could also be among the many cruelest for taxi drivers.
Changchun, a Chinese language metropolis within the northeastern province of Jilin, just lately issued its personal ban on tattoos for cabdrivers — however merely instructed them to cowl them up, to not take away them. (It additionally instructed drivers to not smoke, to maintain their autos clear and to activate the air-con whereas ferrying passengers.)
The driving force in Lanzhou who went public with discontent mentioned Changchun’s method was preferable, and recommended that the native authorities modify its directive.
“I perceive that our leaders wish to current our trade in a extra optimistic mild,” the driving force wrote. “The aim of telling us to take away our tattoos is in order that our passengers don’t see them. Overlaying them up achieves the identical consequence.”
After the pushback, Lanzhou’s transportation committee mentioned drivers might disguise massive tattoos on their arms and necks, however recommended that it could be a brief answer. “Those that are unable to take away them fully in the meanwhile ought to cowl them up,” the committee mentioned in its reply to the driving force.
Different on-line response to the episode has been combined. In an off-the-cuff ballot on social media asking 3,000 ladies whether or not they would experience with taxi drivers sporting tattoos, 850 mentioned they might, and 1,000 mentioned they might not.
A male web person mentioned on Weibo, a Chinese language microblogging platform, that although he revered the artwork of tattooing, he would develop into nervous if a tattooed driver took a flip down a abandoned street.
Some mentioned the Lanzhou rule merely mirrored outdated stereotypes about tattoos. A 29-year-old web person in Wuhan, Diane Yang, wrote on Weibo: “If the higher-ups don’t just like the look of tattoos, please don’t use ladies as an excuse. Tattoos shouldn’t be thought of the manifestations of in poor health intentions.”
“It’s very regular,” Li Mingjun, a 21-year-old scholar in Beijing, mentioned in an interview about physique ink. “You may’t cease somebody from making a residing simply due to a private choice.”
She mentioned she needed a tattoo for herself.
Claire Fu contributed analysis from Beijing.
