Chinese Characters Tattoos

Chinese characters tattoos are very popular these days. The main reason for this is that the characters themselves are beautiful mini works of art but they also have a literal meaning that gives the tattoo an extra level.

There are more than 80,000 Chinese characters, however most of them are rarely used. If you know the most commonly used 1,000 characters you can read most modern Chinese language.

 When picking a Chinese characters tattoo you should bear in mind that many English words require 2 Chinese characters. They should read from left to right or if you arrange the symbols vertically the left most character should be placed at the top.

Chinese astrology assigns each year to an animal sign, many people chose to have the symbol for their birth year as a tattoo. The 12 animal signs are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.