The new ink masters

新水墨大师

China makes its mark on the world of tattoos

中国在纹身界留下了自己的印记

 The innovations pioneered by China’s tattooists are transforming the art of inked flesh everywhere

中国纹身师开创的创新正在全方位改变纹身艺术

词汇

Pioneer/先锋；拓荒者

Tattooist/  纹身师

inked flesh/纹身

Aug 29th 2020 | WENLING, ZHEJIANG

THE ARMS are those of a tall young man, his muscles toned and skin firm. One is covered in thick sweeps of black Chinese calligraphy from shoulder to wrist. That and the other limbs—around ten in all—are piled in a disembodied heap on Wu Shang’s desk. They are models that he commissioned, made of silicon rubber that looks and, crucially for him, feels like real skin. Wu Shang is a tattooist in the coastal city of Wenling. Having seen hundreds of his carefully inked pieces of art walk out of his studio door, he wanted to keep a few to decorate the walls. “Otherwise, all I have is imperfect pictures,” he says.

这是一个年轻的大小伙的双臂，肌肉结实，皮肤结实。其中一支从肩膀到手腕都是厚厚的黑色中国书法。这条“臂”和其他的“臂”——大约有10条——堆在吴尚的桌子上。这些都是他委托制作的模型，由硅橡胶制成，看起来像真的皮肤，而且对他来说更重要的是，他们摸起来像真的皮肤。吴尚(音译)是沿海城市温岭市的一名纹身师。当他看到数百幅自己精心绘制的水墨画作走出工作室大门时，他想保留几幅来装饰墙壁。“实话实说，我所拥有（制作）的都只是些不完美的照片罢了，”他说。

词汇

Calligraphy/书法；笔迹

Disembodied/空洞的；无实质的；无实体的

heap/堆

【删了两段，讲当下郭嘉对于纹身看法的内容】

 

These might be the quirkiest tattoos in China, but they are part of a much broader trend. Tattooed arms, backs and legs are fast becoming common sights in the country’s biggest cities. The delicate flora and fauna of traditional Chinese art have migrated from rice paper to bodies, carried along by a revolution in techniques. And the innovations pioneered by China’s tattooists for their swelling market are transforming the art of inked flesh everywhere.

这可能是中国最怪异的纹身，但它们是更广泛趋势的一部分。手臂、背部和腿部纹身正迅速成为中国大城市的常见景观。伴随着一场技术革命，中国传统艺术中精致的动植物已经从宣纸转移到人体上。中国纹身师为其日益膨胀的纹身市场所开创的创新，正在各地改变着纹身艺术。

词汇

Quirky/古怪的；离奇的

Flora/植物区系；植物群

Fauna/  动物群

rice paper/宣纸

Tattooing is not new in China. Literature from the Tang dynasty (618-907AD) describes people getting tattooed with scenes of natural beauty and lines from poetry. Without question the most famous tattoo in Chinese history belonged to Yue Fei, a revered 12th-century general in the Song dynasty who had four characters inscribed on his back: jing zhong bao guo, or “serve the realm with utter loyalty”.

纹身在中国并不新鲜。唐朝(公元618-907年)的文学作品描述了人们在身上纹上自然的美和诗词摘句。毫无疑问，中国历史上最著名的纹身属于岳飞，一位12世纪的宋朝将军，他的背上刻着四个字:“精忠报国”。

These, though, are the positive exceptions. For much of Chinese history tattoos were seen as markers of trouble. They were the preserve of borderland barbarians, rogues, bandits and criminals, whose faces were sometimes tattooed as punishment. Some believe that Confucianism frowns on tattoos as an act of filial impiety that damages your body, which is seen as an extension of your parents.

不过，这些都是积极的例外。在中国历史的大部分时间里，纹身都被视为麻烦的标志。对于边境地区的野蛮人、流氓、强盗和罪犯，他们的脸上有时会刺上纹身以示惩罚。一些人认为，儒家思想反对纹身，认为这是一种不敬孝道的行为，（纹身）会损害你的身体，而肉体视为你父母的一种延申。

词汇

borderland barbarian/边境野蛮人

frown on/不悦，不满

rogue/流氓

filial/孝顺的

impiety/不尊敬

China’s modern dalliance with tattoos began in the 1980s as foreign fashions streamed into the country, just then opening to the world. Tattoo parlours popped up in its biggest cities, especially Shanghai and Beijing. Artists mostly imitated the designs popular elsewhere. But by the late 1990s a uniquely Chinese style was emerging, best captured in the work of Shen Weiguo, a soft-spoken man whose studio in Shanghai remains a fixture on the Chinese scene today.

20世纪80年代，随着外国时尚潮流涌入中国，中国对纹身的现代迷恋开始了，当时中国刚刚向世界开放。纹身店在中国最大的城市如雨后春笋般出现，尤其是上海和北京。艺术家们大多模仿在其他地方流行的设计。但到了20世纪90年代末，一种独特的中国风格开始出现，沈伟国的作品最能体现这一点。沈伟国说话轻声细语，他在上海的工作室如今仍是中国纹身界的固定标志。

词汇

Dalliance/嬉戏；闲混

Mr Shen was drawn to the Japanese fondness for dense images, infused with historical legends and covering the whole back. He also admired Western oil painting and China’s own cultural heritage. In his hands these were fused into what became known as the “Chinese neo-traditional school”, similar to the tattoos associated with Japan’s Yakuza gangsters but with Chinese content and brighter colours. (Think more dragons, fewer waves and less rigid rules.) Not that Mr Shen himself likes being called a neo-traditionalist. “I jump around a lot. As soon as you define yourself as this or that, you stop evolving,” he says.

沈被日本人对密集图像的喜爱所吸引，这些图像充满了历史传说，并覆盖了整个背部。他还欣赏西方油画和中国自己的文化遗产。在他的手中，这些纹身被融合成所谓的“中国新传统学派”，类似于与日本黑帮有关的纹身，但有中国的内容和更明亮的颜色。(多想想龙，少想想波，少想想严格的规则。)沈本人并不喜欢被称为新传统主义者。他说:“我经常转变思维。一旦你把自己定义为这个或那个，你就会停止演进。”

词汇

Fuse/熔合；融合

Yakuza/(日本) 八九三黑帮

Two other distinctively Chinese styles are now edging out the neo-traditional school in popularity. One is classic calligraphy, updated with a modern sensibility. Chinese characters often appear as tattoos in the West, too, but these mostly look like basic handwriting. By contrast, Wu Shang and other tattooists in China apply bold, inventive strokes (see below).

另外两种具有中国特色的风格在受欢迎程度上正逐渐超过新传统学派。一种是经典的书法，带有现代气息。在西方，汉字也经常作为纹身出现，但这些大多看起来像基本的笔迹。相比之下，吴尚和中国的其他纹身师则采用大胆、有创意的笔画(见下文)。

The other style is an approximation of ink-wash painting, the stuff of traditional Chinese landscapes. Among its finest exponents are Joey Pang (see below) and Chen Jie (see main image), two women who got started in the early 2000s, the former in Hong Kong, the latter in Beijing. Orchids bloom up the napes of necks; songbirds perch on branches that run across shoulders and down arms; mist-wreathed mountain ranges extend across collarbones. Their tattoos have an almost ethereal quality, as if floating above the skin. And just as important, they are perfect for the age of social media: Ms Chen has more than 420,000 followers on Instagram.

另一种风格近似于水墨画，是中国传统山水画的素材。其中最优秀的代表人物是彭祖怡(Joey Pang，见下)和陈洁(Chen Jie，见主图)，这两位女性在21世纪初开始创业，前者在香港，后者在北京。兰花在脖子的颈项上开花;鸣禽栖息在横跨肩膀和手臂的树枝上;云雾缭绕的山脉横跨锁骨。他们的纹身有一种几乎空灵的品质，仿佛漂浮在皮肤之上。同样重要的是，它们非常适合这个社交媒体时代:陈小姐在Instagram上有超过42万的粉丝。

词汇

mist-wreathed/云雾缭绕

collarbone/锁骨

ethereal/缥缈的；超凡的

As is increasingly common globally, some of the best Chinese tattooists had formal art training before opting for ink and skin as their preferred medium. Wu Shang attended the prestigious China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied Impressionist painting. He says that he intended Wu Shang, his nom de plume, as a tribute to the French artist Paul Cézanne, meaning “I am no Cézanne”. Coincidentally or not, it can also mean “None are better than me”.

在全球越来越普遍的情况下，中国一些最好的纹身师在选择墨汁和皮肤作为他们的首选媒介之前接受过正式的艺术培训。吴尚就读于杭州著名的中国美术学院，在那里他学习了印象派绘画。他说，他打算用笔名“吴尚”(Wu Shang)向法国艺术家保罗•塞尚(Paul Cezanne)致敬，意思是“我不是塞尚”。不管巧合与否，它还可以表示“没有人比我更好”。

词汇

Prestigious/享有声望的，受尊敬的

nom de plume/笔名

For art-school graduates, the lucrative potential of tattooing is part of the allure. A famous tattooist can charge 3,000 yuan ($435) an hour. Purists worry that such rewards have created unwanted pressures. Consider the fate of Ms Pang, the ink-wash pioneer in Hong Kong. She spent a decade studying under a calligraphic master. As her reputation spread, people came from around the world to her studio. By 2017 her waiting list stretched three years into the future. “I need time to think and draw before I work on skin, and I didn’t have that,” she says. Her husband was also her business partner. When their relationship collapsed, she left him and her business and fled to Dali, a city nestled among mountains in the south-western province of Yunnan, her birthplace.

对于艺术学校的毕业生来说，纹身的潜在利润是其吸引力的一部分。一个著名的纹身师每小时收费3000元(435美元)。纯粹主义者担心这样的报酬会带来不必要的压力。想想香港的水墨先驱彭女士的命运吧。她花了十年时间师跟从一位书法大师学习。随着她名声的传播，人们从世界各地来到她的工作室。到2017年，她那边的等待名单延到的三年后。“在我用皮肤作画之前，我需要时间思考和绘画，而我没有时间，”她说。她的丈夫也是她的商业伙伴。当他们的关系破裂时，她离开了他和她的生意，逃到了大理。大理位于中国西南部的云南省，坐落在群山之中，是她的出生地。

词汇

Allure/诱惑力；引诱力；吸引力

After a couple of years spent fighting deep depression, Ms Pang is getting back into tattooing with a new studio. It looks nothing like the dingy lairs of the popular imagination. It is a one-room country retreat, with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall and a courtyard set up for tea service. “I can reconnect with my art here,” she says, speaking in her first interview since her disappearance. She adds a pledge to former clients: she will complete their unfinished tattoos for nothing if they come to Dali.

与深度抑郁症抗争了几年之后，彭日成开了一家新工作室，重新开始纹身。它看起来一点也不像大众想象中的那些肮脏的巢穴。这是一间乡村别墅，有一面落地玻璃墙和一个供茶水使用的庭院。她在失踪后的第一次采访中说:“我可以在此再续我的艺术创作。”她还向以前的客户承诺:如果他们来大理，她将免费为他们完成未完成的纹身。

词汇

Dingy/昏暗的；肮脏的

Lair/巢穴；躲藏处

The other revolution

另一种革新

Ms Pang’s ability to create watercolour-like works on skin is a result of dramatic improvements in tattooing equipment, which is linked to China’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse. Tattooists used to rely on coil-based machines, which produced a buzzing sound as the needle bounced up and down. Over the past two decades many have switched to rotary alternatives. They are lighter and quieter, with more efficient motors. This allows tattooists greater precision as they wield two different formations of needles: a pen-like point for outlines and a flat brush for colouring. Their technique resembles painting, mixing different hues to generate the right look and then dabbing the colours on the skin.

彭女士能在皮肤上创作类似水彩画的作品，得益于纹身设备的大幅改进，这与中国崛起为制造业大国有关。过去，纹身师使用的是基于线圈的机器，当纹身针上下弹跳时，机器会发出嗡嗡声。在过去二十年中，许多人已经转向旋转式电机的替代方案。它们更轻、更安静，马达更高效。这使得纹身师使用两种不同形状的针的精度更高:笔状的笔尖用于勾勒轮廓，扁平的笔刷用于着色。他们的技术类似于绘画，混合不同的色调来产生正确的外观，然后将颜色涂抹在皮肤上。

词汇

Dab/涂；轻擦；轻敷

But China’s manufacturing muscle has also generated a problem: a proliferation of cheap tattoo machines. “It used to be really hard to get tattoo equipment if you weren’t an artist yourself,” says Matt Lodder, an art historian at the University of Essex who has written extensively about tattoos. Now the devices can be easily purchased online. In the West some in the tattoo industry (normally averse to rules) have started calling for regulation to control the sale of equipment and ensure that studios meet adequate standards.

但中国的制造业也产生了一个问题:廉价纹身机的激增。“如果你自己不是艺术家，以前真的很难弄到纹身器材，”埃塞克斯大学的艺术历史学家马特·劳德说，他写过很多关于纹身的文章。现在，这些设备可以很容易地在网上购买。在西方，纹身行业的一些人(通常反对相关规定)已经开始呼吁监管，以控制设备的销售，并确保纹身工作室达到适当的标准。

词汇

Proliferation/增殖，扩散

In China several prominent tattooists are taking a different approach. They have set up schools. In Wu Shang’s studio four students are hunched over flat pieces of silicon rubber—mimicking skin, just like his model arms—trying to recreate images that they first painted on paper.

在中国，一些著名的纹身师正在采取一种不同的方式。他们建立了学校。在吴尚的工作室里，四名学生弓着背在一块硅橡胶上——仿制的皮肤，就像他的模型手臂一样——试图重现他们最初在纸上画的图像。

词汇

Mimicking/仿制，模仿

Hunch/弯腰驼背

That might seem inoffensive, but it goes against a widespread but unwritten code. Masters may take an apprentice or two under their wings, but only if they are truly committed to the craft. The idea that anyone can just show up, pay a tuition fee and after a few months apply ink to skin leaves purists aghast. Even in China some are critical. Mr Shen, the neo-traditionalist, says that he honed his technique over many years by wielding needles by hand. “You need to learn about the relationship between skin and needle. You can’t just get that overnight in school,” he says.

这似乎没有冒犯之意，但它违背了一种普遍存在的不成文的准则。大师们可能会带一两个学徒，但前提是他们真正致力于这门手艺。但现在的一种思想是所有人都能着手一试，交了学费，几个月后就可以在皮肤上做墨水画，这种想法让纯粹主义者们目瞪口呆。即使在中国，也有人持批评态度。身为新传统主义者的沈先生说，多年来，他通过手工挥针磨练了自己的技艺。“你需要了解皮肤和针头之间的关系。你不可能在学校里一夜就得到这样的体验。

词汇

Apprentice/学徒；生手

Aghast/吓呆的，惊骇的；吃惊的

 

There is, however, a counter-argument. People in the business estimate that China now has tens of thousands of tattoo studios, up from hundreds a decade ago. Last year at least 16 large tattoo exhibitions were held around the country, bringing together crowds of would-be tattooists and soon-to-be-inked patrons. Given the surging demand, the need for well-trained artists is evident. Wu Shang knows that all too well. A garish orange-and-yellow fish on the underside of his left forearm testifies to the experiments on himself that taught him his craft. Who could begrudge his students wanting to start on fake arms?

然而，有一种相反的观点。业内人士估计，中国现在有数万家纹身工作室，而10年前只有数百家。去年，美国各地至少举办了16场大型纹身展览，聚集了大批想成为纹身师的人和即将成为纹身爱好者的人。由于需求激增，对训练有素的艺术家的需求是显而易见的。吴尚再清楚不过了。他的左前臂下面有一条鲜艳的橙黄色的鱼，这证明了他在自己身上做的实验，正是这些实验教会了他这一手艺。谁会嫉妒他的学生（这么短的时间就）想要开始使用假手臂呢?

词汇

Garish/过分鲜艳的

Testify/作证；证明

Begrudge/羡慕，嫉妒