Humans of China: "I'm Now the Only Lady in My Village With Tattoos"

This article comes from Humans of China (WeChat ID: humans-of-china), which aims to document and tell the stories of the many varied people of this vast country, one individual at a time. The following account features a Li minority lady in Hainan province who has traditional tattoos on her face. Read the original post here. 

I've always thought these tattoos looked ugly but I didn't have a choice about having them. At the age of 17, my mum told me I needed them and then she tattooed my neck and face. She had collected some thorns from a tree and some seeds she used to make the black ink. After she drew the lines on my face she then dipped the thorn into the black ink and then dug it into the skin. She'd dug it in deep so the ink would stay but digging it deep meant it bled a lot. It took three days in total and she went over the same lines four times. I'd cry but if I cried she'd become angry and then she would hit me. She told me to sit on a chair and to place my hands between my legs and then sat on my lap. It was hard for me to move. I was scared and in pain. Around seven days later the lines had started to heal, and there was no more blood and no more pain.

More than 50 years later the lines are still very visible on my face. I always thought girls without tattoos are much prettier. My mother was scared that if I didn't have these lines on my face then someone would steal me and then sell me in a different city somewhere in China. These lines made a girl ugly. Only the Li Minority have them and some of us do like them. I remember some of the boys liked girls more with tattoos than without. Some boys also had tattoos but not many.

Apart from her backside, my mum was covered in tattoos. She had them all over her body. She also needed them to stay safe. She died when she was 60 years old and altogether my parents had five children. I was the oldest and I do have a younger sister but by the time she was born the tradition of tattooing was quickly dying out. She didn't need to tattoo her face and as time went by and China became more developed, no one needed them anymore. I'm glad it no longer happens. 

This year I am 74 years old, and I married at the age of 28. My husband and I had six children – three girls and three boys. Luckily none of my children have tattoos. My husband and I were farmers and he treated us all very well even though life was pretty hard. There were times we'd struggle to gather enough food for us all to eat but somehow we managed. This didn't mean we ate well but we never went hungry. At times I'd boil tree bark in water until it was soft, and that would be our dinner.

Spring Festival was and still is important for us and each year we used to raise a pig, and then at New Year, we'd kill it to eat. We also had chickens. My husband has since died but I'm used to being on my own but I am happy.

As a kid, I never had the chance to study. If I had gone to school I wouldn't have these tattoos now. I really wanted to study but as the oldest child, I would have to help my mum look after my younger brothers and sister while they were busy farming. I'm now the only lady left here in my village with tattoos. Some ladies the same age as me are still alive but they were lucky not to have gone through the process I went through. 

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Photos courtesy of Cameron Hack