Many celebrities have chosen to put Chinese tattoos on their bodies. Ever wondered what they mean?
David Beckham’s Tattoo
- David Beckham’s Chinese Tattoo
It means
“Death and life have determined appointments, riches and honor depend upon heaven.”
It is one of the most meaningful Chinese tattoo I have seen on celebrities. The tattoo was done by one of the best tattoo artists in Hong Kong called Gabe.
Another good translation in English is
“Life and death are decided by fate, wealth and honor are from heaven.”
In fact, this is a well-known saying originating from the Analects, a brilliant book (you can get it from Amazon.com
The characters from top to bottom are:
- Life - Pronounced “xeng” in Mandarin, “sang” in Cantonese.
- Death – Pronounced “si” in Mandarin, “sei” in Cantonese.
- Has – Pronounced “you” in Mandarin, “yau” in Cantonese.
- Fate /Determined appointments – Pronounced “ming” in Mandarin, “ming” in Cantonese.
- Riches – Pronounced “fu” in Mandarin, “fu” in Cantonese.
- Wealth and Honor - Pronounced “gui” in Mandarin, “gwai” in Cantonese.
- From/depend upon – Pronounced “you” in Mandarin, “yau” in Cantonese.
- Heaven – Pronounced “tian” in Mandarin, “tin” in Cantonese.
Cher’s Chinese Tattoo
- Cher’s Chinese Tattoo
Even Marcus Camby is one of those celebrities who first displayed prominently kanji tattoos, Cher is definitely the pioneer.
She had her Chinese tattoo done in 1983.
The character on her right arm is pronounced “li” in Mandarin, “lik” in Cantonese. She meant to have it mean “strength”.
It is the Chinese character which usually stands for for power. It is also the first character of a Chinese double character word for strength. It is best to use the double character if one wants to refer to strength. However, many people nowadays mistakenly use the first character only.
Larry Hughes’ Chinese Tattoo
The character means loyalty/loyal. Pronounced “zhong” in Mandarin, “jung” in Cantonese. Larry Hughes said “It’s about loyalty to the game and loyalty to myself.
Marcus Camby’s Chinese Tattoo
“I was one of the originators of the Chinese characters,” said Camby, who broke into the NBA in 1996. ” I want to be the best. And I’ve got a lot of love for my family.” But why in Chinese? “I was into a lot of Chinese flicks,” he explains, “a lot of kung fu movies.”
The characters from top to bottom are:
- Strive to be the best/ Encourage - Pronounced “mian” in Mandarin, “min” in Cantonese.
- Clan – Pronounced “zu” in Mandarin, “juk” in Cantonese.
Nick Carter’s Chinese Tattoo
Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter uniquely combined Greek mythology and Chinese art. His Chinese tattoo is the Chinese tranlation for “Poseidon” – the god of the sea in Greek mythology.
The characters from top to bottom are:
- Sea – Pronounced “hai” in Mandarin, “hoi” in Cantonese.
- God – Pronounced “shen” in Mandarin, “sun” in Cantonese.
If you want to add something to this article? Write a comment, thank you 
Mark Johns
My sister had the symbol for JOY. Our mom passed away in July.Patty and I went and got moms name tattooed on us. She got the symbol for Joy. I got her name in big gothic letters. Now I want something fresh but not sure what i want.I havealot of tats it is very addictive.Much better than being addicted to drugs.
Hi Darlene,
send me an email to admin(at)lainktattoodesigns.com and we will come up with something very nice for you…
I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO TRY YOUR SITE EVERYTHING I HAVE SEEN SO FAR HAS BEEN EXTREMELY WONDERFUL! I HAVE ALOT OF TATTOOS THAT WERE DONE IN THE 70′S BY VERY UN-PRO’S! I AM TRYING TO FIX THEM NOW BUT AS MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO USE YOUR SITE,I CANNOT. I AM PARTIALLY DISABLED AND LIVE ON A VERY FIXED INCOME SUPPORTING A TEENAGE SON ON MY OWN. PLEASE KEEP UP THE WONDERFUL WORK AND ANYTHING AVAILABLE (FREE!) WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!!
THANK YOU, LOVE YOUR INKS!
BIG MAMA DAWN
I have a chinese character for pure on my neck. I did a lot of research before actually getting it,. Chinese characters have different meanings in different dialects so what may say pure in one may mean something completely different to another. The best way I found was to go to a few different CFhinese resteraunts and ask.