#刺青台灣刺青文化探討研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. 學. #刺青. 台灣刺青文化探討研究. Nat. #刺青. er. io. al. sit. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. n. v i n An Exploratory Study Culture in Taiwan C h of Tattoo U engchi. Student: Jasmin Oertel 茉莉 Advisor: Professor Robert Chen 陳儒修. 中華民國 107 年 6 月 June 2018. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(2) Acknowledgements I want to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor Prof. Robert Chen (陳儒修), who was not only a truly knowledgeable but also a very attentive, patient, and supportive guidance in this process. My great thanks also goes to the two committee members Prof. Ting Yu Kang (康庭瑜) and Prof. Ming Tsun Lee (李明璁), who contributed wonderful constructive advice and expertise. I was very blessed to have such a harmonious and fitting committee.. This study would not have been possible without my great participants, whom I want. 治政 Sydney and Holy Mighty – it was a pleasure hearing your voices 大 and stories. 立. to express profound thankfulness to: Fish, Andria, Val, Gigi, Jarvis, Cohen, Jimmy, Jasper,. ‧ 國. 學. I also want to thank my family, who continuously supported me with their positive energy and feedback from far away. There are not enough words to express my love for them.. ‧. Taking the initiative to study in Taiwan is also thanks to them as they always believed in me and my capabilities. I also don’t know what I would have done without my dear friend Arzhia,. Nat. sit. y. who spent hours and hours writing her own thesis by my side in our favourite campus coffee. io. anxieties”, we supported each other with faith and friendship.. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. shop Louisa. Whether it be “comma questions”, Word formation problems or other “thesis. i n U. v. I further want to express my gratitude to my other close friends that are spread around the globe and followed my Taiwan journey digitally, sending me voice messages and mails filled with soul food. You know who you are. Last but not least, I thank Louisa coffee shop and its staff for providing me with coffee, electricity, and a stimulating environment for writing my thesis. I have made many new friends in this little space.. As finishing this thesis is the final step to completing my International Communication Master degree in Taiwan, I want to say that I have enjoyed this journey from the beginning to the end. Taiwan will always hold a special place in my heart and its people have treated me more than kind and welcoming. I would like to believe 緣分 (destiny, fate) brought me here.. i. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(3) Abstract. This thesis examines the complex relationship between physical and social practices of tattooing in contemporary Taiwan. Covering Western and Eastern body concepts, as well as briefly tracing the history of tattooing from the early beginnings to today, I aim to discover personal motivations and cultural factors behind obtaining tattoos in Taiwan and changes in. 政治大 After laying out a historical narrative, 立 I investigate how body inscription is used as a means of. the perceptions and practices of tattooing whilst embedding it in binary context to the West.. ‧ 國. 學. creating identity. Finally, I will explore the role of social media and its influence on shaping tattoo culture in Taiwan today. For this study in-depth interviews were conducted with ten tattooed Taiwanese participants from a millennial generation cohort. The findings are meant to. ‧. be an exploration of motivations in Taiwanese tattoo culture and contribute to the field of. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Cultural and Communication Studies in Taiwan.. v. n. Keywords: Tattoo, Body, Taiwan, Social Media, Self-Identification. Ch. engchi. i n U. ii. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(4) 摘要. 本研究以當代台灣社會為背景，探討刺青文化中身體與社會實踐間的複雜關係。本文旨在發現台灣刺青者的個人動機與文化因素，以及對刺青的實踐與觀感的改變，除此. 治政大述，同時探討身體銘痕如何建立身分認同，最後將社群媒體對於台灣刺青文化的影響立納入研究討論。本研究採用深度訪談法，訪談十位台灣千禧代世代刺青者。以台灣刺之外亦涵蓋東西方的身體意念，並簡述刺青文化的歷史背景。除了歷史與文化背景概. ‧ 國. 學. 青文化為背景，本研究將針對刺青動機提出發現，並為台灣文化研究提出貢獻。. ‧. 關鍵詞: 刺青, 身體, 台灣, 社群媒體, 自我身分認同. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iii. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(5) Table of Content. 1.1.. Motivation & The Researcher’s Position ............................................................................ 1. 1.2.. Research Context & Research Questions ........................................................................... 3. Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.. 2.1.1.. Body Concepts in Western Philosophy and Sociology ............................................... 6. 2.1.2.. Body Concepts in Eastern Philosophy....................................................................... 10. 2.2.. A Brief History of the Earliest Practices of Tattoos................................................. 14. 2.2.2.. The History of Western Tattooing ............................................................................. 15. 2.2.3.. The History of Tattoos in East Asian Culture .......................................................... 17. 2.2.4.. Tattoo Renaissance in Society and Research ............................................................ 23. 2.2.5.. Binary Relation Between West and East Tattoo Culture ........................................ 25. 立. 政治大. 學. Globalization’s Implications on Communication, Culture, and Body ........................... 27. 2.3.1.. Media and The Construction of Body Image ........................................................... 30. 2.3.2.. Tattoo Culture on Instagram ..................................................................................... 32. ‧. Research ....................................................................................................................................... 34 3.1.. Research Context ................................................................................................................ 34. 3.2.. Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 37. sit. y. Nat. Interviews & Analysis ................................................................................................................. 40. io. 4.. Tattoo as Body Art and Body Modification...................................................................... 13. 2.2.1.. 2.3.. 3.. The Concept of Body............................................................................................................. 5. al. er. 2.. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1. ‧ 國. 1.. Fish ....................................................................................................................................... 41. 4.2.. Val......................................................................................................................................... 48. 4.3.. Cohen ................................................................................................................................... 55. 4.4.. Andria .................................................................................................................................. 60. 4.5.. Jarvis .................................................................................................................................... 66. 4.6.. Gigi ....................................................................................................................................... 72. 4.7.. Jimmy ................................................................................................................................... 76. 4.8.. Jasper and Sydney .............................................................................................................. 81. 4.9.. Holy Mighty ......................................................................................................................... 86. 4.10.. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 90. n. 4.1.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 5.. Conclusion, Discussion, and Limitations .................................................................................. 93. 6.. References .................................................................................................................................. 100. 7.. Appendices ................................................................................................................................. 105. iv. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(6) Table of Pictures and Graphics. Picture 1: Fish on a skateboard ramp……………………………………………..………….41 Picture 2: Fish on his motorbike……………………………………………………..………41 Picture 3 – Picture 6: Fish’s tattoos..………………………………………………...……….42 Picture 7, Picture 8: Fish’s tattoos…………………….…………………………...…………44 Picture 9: A self-portrait of Val………………………………………………...…………….48 Picture 10: Val holding her soccer shoe….……………………………………...…………...48 Picture 11 – Picture 13: Different angles of Val’s sleeve tattoo….………………..………...52 Picture 14: Cohen during a concert………………………………………………..…………55. 政治大. Picture 15: A portrait of Cohen…........…………………………………………..……….….55. 立. Picture 16: Cohen’s tattoo design…...…………………………………………..…………...57. ‧ 國. 學. Picture 17: Andria in the ocean……………………………………………..…………….….60 Picture 18: Andria with Peking opera make-up……………………………..……………….60. ‧. Picture 19 – Picture 21: Andria’s tattoos on her arms and her chest…..…..………………...61. y. Nat. Picture 22: Jarvis giving a presentation…………………………………..………………….66. io. sit. Picture 23: Jarvis standing next to a car…………………………………..………………….66. n. al. er. Picture 24, Picture 25: Jarvis’ tattoos on his left arm and leg…...………..………………….68. i n U. v. Picture 26, Picture 27: Gigi and her tattoo on her right arm……………..…………..……....72. Ch. engchi. Picture 28 – Picture 30: Gigi’s tattoos…………………………………..…………………...73 Picture 31: A self-portrait of Jimmy……………………………………..…………………..76 Picture 32: Jimmy during a tattoo session……………………………..…………………….76 Picture 33 – Picture 35: Jimmy’s tattoo designs…….………………………..……………...77 Picture 36 – 38: More of Jimmy’s tattoo designs…………………………..……...…………78 Picture 39: Jasper getting tattooed by Sydney……………………………..………………...81 Picture 40: Jasper and Sydney after the session……………………………..……………….81 Picture 41: Holy Mighty’s tattoos……………………………………………….….………..86 Picture 42: Holy Mighty playing at a concert……………...……………………….….…….86 Graphic 1: The relationship between the four categories………………………….…..……..91 v. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(7) 1. Introduction. 1.1. Motivation & The Researcher’s Position. Today’s world has become a place that feels increasingly smaller. Due to the uprising of the internet and the consequences of globalization that now can be felt anywhere around the globe, people are more interconnected and cultural developments and trends can be followed in the most different geographical regions. Especially the internet and social media have helped to spread information in a faster way than ever before thanks to its omnipresence and ubiquity.. 政治大. Not only this, but with the birth of the internet we have also started to see a rapidly increased change of culture, that has never been here before. Cultural developments that used to be. 立. confined to geographical areas are now reaching places hundreds to thousands of kilometres. ‧ 國. 學. away and the public and private spheres of our lives are increasingly merging together. Especially when it comes to the display of bodies, it has become apparent that the general. ‧. caution of keeping one’s own body private and covered from the public eye has strongly loosened. Even more so, the public display of body modifications is increasing in societies. sit. y. Nat. around the globe. Nowadays, all forms of bodies are just a click away; search engines and. io. er. hashtags make all kinds of images of the human body accessible in seconds. The feeds of social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram are increasingly exhibiting examples of the. n. al. i n U. v. so called “modified” body, that indirectly or directly shape the way we experience other. Ch. engchi. people’s bodies, as well as our own. Especially for the so called Millennial Generation (or Generation Y, typically born in the early 1980s to the end of 1990s), growing up in industrialised and digitalised environments has become the norm and daily exposure to online content is part of everyday life. One form of the modified body, that has history in communities all around the globe and is part of increasing online (as well as offline) appreciation, is the tattooed body. The body has always been central to the human experience and using it to express affiliation, values and personal stories dates back to thousands of years ago. The perception of tattoos, however, has changed throughout time and within societies. It is because of my own personal interest in tattoo art, that I chose this topic for my Master Thesis. I always knew people and friends who had tattoos. 1. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(8) here and there, but it was only when I met my first boyfriend Dapang 1 大胖 in Beijing in 2015 that I was able to dive into a scene, where tattoos and other forms of body modification were practiced in a wider circle. Since then, I have been fascinated about tattoo culture, especially in East-Asian context. It struck me to see how tattoos were used to enhance personal identity, values, and group membership. Shortly after coming to Taipei in 2016, I realized that, just as in my hometown Berlin, more and more young people decide to get tattooed. However, Taiwan is a society that is influenced by Confucian values, which put high attentiveness on the preservation of the body. Furthermore, tattoos here are still somewhat connected to criminals, the underground scene, and other stigma. Certainly, as we will explore in the following, Taiwan’s tattoo culture has been shaped by different cultural influences and perceptions within Taiwanese society are changing in a time. 政治大. where a new wave of individualised tattoos are proclaiming popularity amongst Taiwanese. 立. youth.. ‧ 國. 學. I want to take this opportunity to deepen my understanding of why young people in Taiwan decide to get tattooed and how this might be a cultural phenomenon and trend that is also partly. ‧. led by the internet and social media. I want to listen to local voices and explore Taiwanese attitudes towards tattoo culture. Coming to Taiwan as a female German master degree student. Nat. sit. y. with Mandarin skills, I find myself in a position that might be somewhat unique. Having grown. io. er. up in China as a young teenager and lived in a Chinese speaking environment for now almost nine years, I experience this surrounding as part of my own cultural identity. For the Taiwanese. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. or Chinese counterpart this is not obvious before engaging in a conversation with me. However,. engchi. my experience was in the past, and is still today, that with my Mandarin language skills and the cultural competency acquired over the years, I am able to interact with locals in a way that feels like cultural bridges are being connected. Engaging with locals is always something I strive for and by doing this research I hope to contribute to intercultural understanding, as well as contribute to intercultural research in Taiwan. I also acknowledge that with my position as a foreign researcher in Taiwan comes a responsibility of stating ethical values. As my qualitative and explorative research is relying on the interactions with human beings, it is my duty to inform my respondents about their safety of privacy and data protection. Hence, I. I will use the Pinyin transcription of Mandarin Chinese in the course of the thesis. Jade-Wiles is only implemented when it’s the predominant transcription found elsewhere. Chinese characters are written in traditional Chinese and just mentioned the first time when the term is introduced. All Chinese terms, names, phrases and literature can be found in the Chinese Index in the Appendix.. 1. 2. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(9) provide each interviewee with a consent form in Chinese that addresses these concerns and assures that the interviewee agrees with the use of their replies, their pictures taken and these pictures being used in my thesis. The consent form can be found in the Appendix.. 1.2. Research Context & Research Questions Taiwan is one of the “Four Asian Tiger” states that through industrialisation and economic growth has seen a rapid development in the second half of the 20th century. Especially the capital Taipei with its 2.6 million inhabitants is a highly digitalised place to live in and Taiwanese youth here are strongly influenced by online trends and relying on online. 政治大. communication. In 2017 Taiwan ranked third highest in Asia with a 88% internet penetration rate, which enforces Taiwanese to receive cultural influences not just from Taiwan itself but. 立. from neighbouring states, such as Japan, Korea and China, and the West through online media.. ‧ 國. 學. Hair dyed in all kinds of colours, as well as pierced and tattooed bodies have become somewhat more visible in Taiwanese youth culture. Vintage shops, hipster cafés and tattoo parlours have. ‧. popped out of the ground around every district in Taipei. The society is seeing a change in selfexpression that has gained speed in the past few years and old concepts are being replaced by. y. Nat. sit. a more open-minded outlook fuelled by the young. Coming across several young Taiwanese. al. er. io. that have tattoos and that use social media such as Instagram to regularly keep up to date with. n. the posts of tattoo artists and other online channels that share tattoo content, I decide to dedicate. Ch. i n U. v. this research to finding the motivations that lie behind getting a tattoo in Taiwan, how having. engchi. a tattoo contributes to personal sense of self and if or why social media is utilized to share tattoo content amongst Taiwanese today. It is my goal to explore how a shift in culture, as in tattoos becoming more mainstream, can contribute to the process of identity making and then also, how and why social media is implemented in communicating these identities. In the course of my thesis I will try to answer these following three research questions by conducting in-depth interviews with ten young Taiwanese millennials aged between 20 and 35 years: RQ1: What are the main motivations for obtaining a tattoo in Taiwan? RQ2: How does having a tattoo influence personal identity in Taiwan?. 3. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(10) RQ3: What are the motivations behind sharing tattoo content on social media in Taiwan? As I come from a different cultural background than my Taiwanese participants, I want to dive a little bit into what body means in my cultural background, but even more so, what body means in the cultural background I am investigating in order to get a general understanding of the different approaches to body. It is not the aim to do a comparative study of Western and Eastern tattoo cultures in a deeper sense but to gain consciousness that cultures are different, that they are in a constant process of change and that, especially in today’s world, they are increasingly influencing each other. As we will see in the following, some of the concepts reflect today’s attitudes towards the body. I aim to give insights into fields that are related to the phenomenon of human body and the experience of creating identity, meaning I will dive into a wide range. 政治大. from philosophy to history to culture and communication studies.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 4. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(11) 2. Literature Review 2.1.. The Concept of Body Being-a-body is given to us and at the same time assigned to us as a task. Gernot Böhme The human body is something that most of us in our ordinary lives might take for. granted. However, our experience of life is inevitably mediated through our bodies (Shiling, 1993). It is the vehicle we move in, the motor that keeps us breathing, feeling and thinking. We use it to communicate thoughts and values and some of us use the body as a canvas to tell personal stories.. 治政 ‘The Body’ has long been a theme of philosophical and sociological 大 debates and dates back to 立put thought to writing. Means of communication have long when the Greeks and Confucius ‧ 國. 學. been dominated by the West, which leads to the assumption that the study of body has also been dominated by Western scholars studying Western bodies. However, each culture. ‧. developed its own study of body, but not all of these concepts are found in Western literature. Brownwell (2009) argues that this leads to a limited development of theoretical frameworks. Nat. sit. y. that would help better understand what is universal about bodily experience, what is culturally. io. er. variable and what it means for cross-cultural understanding (Brownwell, 2009). Asia is a part of the world that offers very complex cultural traditions of body, that differ greatly with those. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. from the West (Brownwell, 2009). It is also a region that has, however, undergone intense. engchi. contact with the West through colonialism, imperialism, war, and globalization (Brownwell, 2009). This study wants to examine youth tattoo culture in Taiwan and as tattooing is a cultural practice that has history both in Eastern and Western cultures, I want to embed my research in a broader understanding of body concepts of the two and what differences there might be in their philosophical and sociological discourse. In order to understand the body as a social instrument, we need to investigate in theories that sociologists have created to theorize the human body. Furthermore, in order to clarify the issue of ‘tattooed bodies in Taiwan’, a key sociological argument must be that embodiment and the practices we perform is the product of training and discipline (Turner and Zheng, 2009). If embodiment is the effect of social practices and these practices are determined by our surroundings, our ‘habitus’, then embodiment varies 5. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(12) among cultures (Turner and Zheng, 2009:7). Different cultural traditions produce different types of embodiment and in turn these different forms of embodiment reinforce different cultural traditions (Turner and Zheng, 2009). In times of globalization, embodiment in different cultures are challenged and become increasingly hybrid through embracing a mixture of body cultures, which then create new artistic, but also social and cultural possibilities (Turner and Zheng, 2009).. Based on the acknowledgement that the ‘Asian body’, as well as the ‘Western body’ will vary in itself, the thesis that there are distinctive traditions of embodiment in the East and West will be underlying in this research. It is of interest to see the greater differences or similarities that the ‘East’ and ‘West’ exhibit and to ask oneself whether or not those concepts still play a role in modern society and if so, how. Since both Eastern and Western philosophy have filled. 政治大 one thesis. Thus, I will only focus on some of the main ideas in Western thought, that have for 立 long concentrated mainly on a body-mind-dualism whilst the Eastern thought, where I will. countless books on this issue, it is by all means unachievable to sum all of them up in just this. ‧ 國. 學. focus on Confucianism, is more strongly represented by a holistic approach.. ‧. 2.1.1. Body Concepts in Western Philosophy and Sociology. sit. y. Nat. al. er. io. Within sociological study the status of the body is a disputed issue and some writers. n. claim that the field has traditionally taken a disembodied approach to the study of the body. Ch. i n U. v. (Malacrida and Low, 2008). Important thinkers have looked at this subject under different. engchi. aspects ranging from physical to medical questions, body-politics, embodiment, and personal identity. Although in ancient Rome and Greece the body was glorified by sculptors, painters, and potters who celebrated the beauty of naked human beings (Synnott, 1983), public discourses of the body already emphasized a separation of the mind from the body, as well as a higher valuing of the mind over the body (Malacrida and Low, 2008). Socrates (466-399 BC) described the soul as a ‘helpless prisoner, chained hand and foot in the body’(Plato, 1963 quoted in Synnott, 1983:38). Plato (c. 427-348 BC) maintained this dualism, stating that ‘soul is utterly superior to the body…the body is no more than a shadow which keeps us company’ (Plato, 1963 quoted in Synnott, 1983:38). And, perhaps unsurprisingly, Aristotle (384-322 BC), a former student of Plato’s said: ‘we can dismiss as unnecessary the question whether the soul and body are one: 6. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(13) it is as though we were to ask whether the wax and its shape are one’ (Aristotle, 1984 quoted in Synnott, 1983:39). This division between soul and body was also made among early Christians, where the body was understood to be merely a temple or container for the soul. These dualistic bodies culminate in the Renaissance with René Descartes’ (1596-1650) concept of Cartesian Dualism, where the body is understood to be separate from the mind and emotions (Malacrida and Low, 2008). Descartes is famous for his quote ‘I think, therefore I am’ and was a strong believer that mind and body are two things entirely distinct from each other. ‘I considered myself, firstly, as having face, hands, arms, and the whole machine made up of flesh and bones, such as it appears in a corpse and which I designated by the name of body’ (Synnott, 1992:41).. 政治大. Since the state had always exercised the right to take away life, to inflict pain, to remove parts of the body, to tattoo or brand the body, to quarantine individuals in times of plague; and both. 立. church and state had traditionally forbidden many physical activities (such as masturbation,. ‧ 國. 學. self-mutilation, abortion, suicide,…), the body had never been entirely private or autonomous and there had always been surveillance and control over the body (Synnott, 1992:42). However,. ‧. the strong adherence to body-mind dualism is sharply contrasted in the 20th century, which marks a turning point in the political anatomy of the body in Europe with thinkers, such as. sit. y. Nat. Freud and Sartre.. er. io. Sigmund Freud showed in his Studies on Hysteria (1895) that psychological phenomena can. al. v i n call into question the traditional Cartesian 1992). In Being and Nothingness C h concept (Synnott, U i e h n g cand that the self is the body: ‘I live my (1943), Sartre insisted that the body is the self, n. be converted into physical phenomena. Thus, body and mind are one - a theory that seemed to. body…The body is what I immediately am…I am my body to the extent that I am’ (cited in Synnott, 1992:43). His perception goes against the notion that the body is similar to a “tomb” or a “temple” - for him body is a representation of the soul. Placed in a broader historical context, these events can be seen as the result of changes initiated in the 19th century when clothes and the presentation of body shifted from being signs of social place to become manifestations of personality (Sennett, 1974 cited in Shiling, 1993:11). In contemporary culture this has promoted the experience of both becoming the body, as in identifying oneself either negatively or positively with the ‘exterior’ of the body, and of being regularly anxious about the possibility that the body will let one down or ‘fall apart’ (Shiling, 1993:11). We are continuously looking for ways to keep the body in a shape that is not just 7. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(14) pleasing ourselves but also the people around us because we have learned that people use appearance to place each other into categories (Sanders, 1989). A person’s physical appearance affects his or her self-definition, identity, and interaction with others (Cooley, 1964) and attractiveness has considerable impact on our social relationships. The fact that the attractive body has become a strong focus of our attention is historically seen not a natural consequence but more a sign of the declining importance of other forms of expression such as traditional clothing, rituals and other traditions (Fuchs, 2000). As mentioned, not all Western scholars agree with the mind-body dualism. Käll (2016) writes “the body is something that we are, much more than only something we have or own as a possession” (Käll, 2016:3). It is more than primarily an object of knowledge as Plato and Aristotle believed, but rather the necessary condition for experience, knowledge and different. 政治大 are the body, for “treating one’s 立own body as an object to be worked on and perfected creates. forms of objectification (de Beauvoir, 2010 cited in Käll, 2016:3). We have the body, and we. another sense of distance” (Käll, 2016:4).. ‧ 國. 學. Michel Foucault contributed to the study of the body an “enhanced self-reflectiveness about. ‧. the project of body study itself” (Frank, 1990:14). In his book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1995) he argued that in the realm of prisons power is implemented through the. Nat. sit. y. use of a disciplinary gaze; seeing and judging are vehicles of power, and the gaze is a ubiquitous. io. er. mechanism of social control in modern societies (as cited in Malacrida and Low, 2008). Foucault argued that between the meticulous daily discipline of institutional routines and the. n. al. i n U. v. constant possibility of surveillance, prisoners began to engage in their own preventative self-. Ch. engchi. policing. These forces of social relations working on the body, that he named ‘biopower’, would eventually produce the ultimate product of a ‘docile body’ that will comply with social regimes readily and willingly (Malacrida and Low, 2008:5). His model, however, can be extended beyond prison life to include students, soldiers, hospital patients, factory workers – practically to all citizens of modern societies. Foucault’s notion of governmentality thereby describes micro-power relations where bodies are controlled by the state through local institutions and authorities. Another sociologist that has become a foundational figure in defining a sociology of the body is Pierre Bourdieu, who developed a range of terms that are conceptually useful for the study of body (Shiling, 1993; Turner and Zheng, 2009). He was interested in the habitus as an ensemble of dispositions that shape and determine our taste for cultural objects and expanded 8. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(15) Marxs’ notion of economic capital to a model of four other kinds of capital, that can be manipulated to achieve economic capital: social capital (networks of friends, family, and mentors who can help us to transcend our class position); symbolic capital (our ability to manipulate symbols such as language or clothing to our advantage); cultural capital (cultural competencies such as gestures, dispositions, tastes, and abilities); and physical capital (originally conceived as a subsystem of cultural capital, meaning the uses of the body to convey one’s social position and display culturally valued physical attributes) (Shiling, 1993; Turner and Zheng, 2009). These four capitals can explain a person’s place in society, how they are perceived and perceive themselves within their environment. All four capitals are in direct relation to each other: for example, expanding my social capital (meeting new friends) might lead to changing my symbolic capital (attaining a tattoo) or vice versa.. 政治大 idea that the body is something立 we can transform, improve and work on – whether it be physical. His concept of these different forms of body capitals might go in hands with a contemporary. exercise, plastic surgery or other body modifications, such as tattoos that express individuality.. ‧ 國. 學. We try to make our bodies “correspond to our inner sense of who we are and desires of who we want to be” (Käll, 2016:4). Our bodies stand in correlation with each other and desires are. ‧. triggered by outside forces and experiences. Transforming our own bodies can have an impact. y. Nat. on others and sharing it on today’s media outlets extends the massive pool of creative. io. sit. inspiration that each one of us can fish from.. n. al. er. The “21st century body” is thus framed in both “personal responsibility and free choice as. i n U. v. something we do in order to make the most of who we are and to achieve power, success, and. Ch. engchi. happiness” (Käll, 2016:4). Taking this further, it seems as if the historical process of capitalism is infecting more and more spheres of our life, which is something that already Marx pointed out. Something that is new however, is that individuals are valuing their self-worth depending on a “current market value” (Fuchs, 2013:83), meaning that their self-worth is not only depending on their skills but also on their body as it seen by the others, also known as body image. Alas, the relation between having and being becomes: I am what I have. Although Western discourse emphasizes a dualistic approach, the concept of body as one is not foreign and there will most certainly not be signs of universal agreement in the near future. I have tried to lay out that western literature is dominated by the early thought that the body is merely a container that we’ve been given and that this idea is also influencing contemporary discourse as more and more people put emphasis on shaping, changing and enhancing their 9. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(16) outer appearance. Taiwanese society is in the midst of an individualization process, so the concept of shaping one’s body is becoming more represented in young Taiwanese attitudes. Traditional Taiwanese perception of body has been for long shaped by Confucian values, however, which still play a role today but slowly seem to be replaced with new concepts.. 2.1.2. Body Concepts in Eastern Philosophy Until this day, there’s been a strong ‘neo-Orientalist’ notion amongst Western philosophers and scientists when it comes to Chinese thought. The ‘Chinese’ thought, that is primarily represented by the thoughts of Confucianism and Daoism, which have strongly influenced East-Asian societies until today, is continuously portrayed as “radically different”. 政治大 early Chinese hold a ‘holistic’立 position, that lacked any concept of mind-body dualism as we. from Western thought (Slingerland, 2013:6). This finds special argumentation in the aspect that. know it from the Cartesian concept mentioned in the chapter before. The notion that ‘Western’. ‧ 國. 學. thought is dualistic in nature and ‘Chinese’ thought can be contrasted as profoundly holistic is an “almost universally accepted truism” and can be traced back to the earliest reception of. ‧. Chinese thought in Europe, where second-hand accounts of Confucian thought written by Jesuit. y. sit. io. er. (Slingerland, 2013:6).. Nat. priests caused thinkers such as Leibniz and Voltaire to see Chinese mind-body holism. Strong views on this holism are also common in contemporary Chinese scholarship. Zhang. n. al. i n U. v. Zailin, for instance, observes that there is no dichotomy of mind and physical body in early. Ch. engchi. Chinese thought (Zhang, 2008). Slingerland (2013), however, believes that Chinese thought is, in fact, characterized by an at least “weak” mind-body dualism that is particularly found in texts about death and the human spirit freeing itself from the physical body (Slingerland:8-14). The myth that early Chinese focus on a mind-body holism is primarily due to the character xin 心, usually translated as ‘heart’, ‘heart-mind’ or ‘mind’ (Slingerland, 2013:8). Xin “can refer to the physical organ itself, or, more abstractly, to a locus of both the sort of higher cognition typically associated with mind in Western cultures and emotions or feelings, which tend to be associated more with body” (Slingerland, 2013:15). Xin is in fact the only organ to be singled out and contrasted with the body as a whole. The qualitative “otherness” of the xin typically passes unnoticed in literature, precisely because of the shared innate dualism (Slingerland, 2013:16). The xin’s authority to rule is not at random: it is the ruler of the self because it 10. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(17) possesses special, qualitative unique powers and alone the xin is able to think, reflect, and make free decisions (Slingerland, 2013). One influential thinker of comparative studies of East-West philosophy is Yuasa Yasuo, who argues that in the East-Asian concept of the body based on the classical Chinese medicine, there is a ‘mind-body synthesis’ in contrast to the ‘mind-body dualism’ of the West (Brownwell, 2009:32). Yuasa describes a ‘third term’, the qi 氣 ‘vital energy’, that mediates between the psychological and physiological, or mind (心 xin) and body (形 xing/身 shen), that is like an ‘all-purpose essence’ (Yuasa, 1993:137). It is hard to find a Western equivalent of this term, that describes a kind of energy or force that flows freely in and gives life to a person. Qi is responsible for the operation of the senses; it is supposed to make speech in the mouth and. 政治大. sight in the eyes, it can grow “when the mouth takes in tastes and the ear takes in sounds” (Shun and Wong, 2004:185). Qi is linked to the emotions and balances a person’s physical and. 立. psychological well-being.. ‧ 國. 學. Yang Ru Bin 楊儒賓 (1996) notes in his Ruijiade shentiguan 儒家身體觀 (‘The Confucian Concept of the Body’) that Confucian thought constructs the body as a three parted division. ‧. into form (xing), qi, and spirit/mind (shen/xin). He also notes that Confucian thought assumed. sit. y. Nat. an integral connection between the body and society, body and nature, body and mind, interior and exterior, and that there was continuous motion between the poles (Yang, 1996, quoted in. io. er. Brownwell, 2009:32). So unlike the static dualistic approach that separates mind and body,. al. n. v i n C h with our mind with each other. Our body form is conjoined e n g c h i U and constitutes the manifestation here we understand that everything is connected and all earthy things are in direct correlation. of our inner vigour that runs through our veins – it is a whole cosmos in itself that interacts with its outer world.. As we can see, Chinese literati have taken quite a different approach to the body, which is also reflected in the language. Chinese has several words that may be translated into English as ‘body’: the three most common characters, some that have been mentioned above already, are shen 身, ti 體 and xing 形. Sun Lung-kee 孫隆基 notes that in thinking about themselves and their relationships with other people, Chinese people use the word shen rather than concepts like ‘personality’ or ‘individual’ (Sun, 1983, quoted in Brownwell). Mark Elvin translates shen as ‘body-person’ as it implies a lived body, a life history (Elvin, 1989 quoted in Brownwell, 2009:35). It is the shen body that 11. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(18) is self-aware, capable of inner reflection and cultivation and is the socially constructed self that is marked by signs of status (Sommer, 2010). The shen is the site where personal values and moral autonomy are constructed (Sommer, 2010). “To reflect on my shen three times a day” is to reflect on the person with regard to its intentions and actual behaviours (Zengzi, Analects cited in Cheng, 2004:130). Xing, which literally means ‘shape’, is mostly referred to the body’s outline rather than to its physical identity. It may thus be considered as “the only term for the body that has nothing to do with the person seen whole” (Sivin, 1995:14). Having xing prevents one from being formless in the cosmos, but having a shen body places one in more specific relationships with other human shen bodies (Sommer, 2010).. 治政大 such as the four limbs and the tipo 體魄) and is also referred to the different parts of the body, 立 senses (Shun and Wong, 2004:184). Its primary sense is that of an individual unit or a closed Ti is the character that is used in the words for ‘physique’ (tizhi 體制, xingti 形體, tixing 體形,. ‧ 國. 學. system. However, the inanimate body is also the vessel for lived experience, indicated by the phrases tihui 體會, ‘to know from experience’, and tiyan 體驗 ‘to learn through personal. ‧. experience’ (Brownwell, 2009:35). Ti bodies differ from xing forms as ti bodies are understood in terms of the relationship between whole and part; xing are more commonly understood in. y. Nat. sit. terms of the relationships between inner and outer, subtle and manifest, or depth and surface. er. io. (Sommer, 2010). Ti bodies are “wholeness that can be dividied from within”, whereas xing. al. v i n person, one family, and one bodyC politic of an entire state. In the broadest sense, ti is a hengchi U “wholeness that can encompass life and death and heaven and earth, and it is a corpus of such n. forms are “templates that can be shaped from without” (Sommer, 2010:301). A ti can be one. scale that can incorporate all under heaven” (Sommer, 2010:324). In Zhongguo wenhuade shenceng jiegou 中國文化的深層結構 (‘The Deep Structure of Chinese Culture’), Sun Lung-kee (1983) argues that Chinese people grow up in a condition of dependence within a network of social obligations, especially among them being the hierarchical family. The older generation is overly concerned for the physical well-being of the younger generation (Sun, 1983 quoted in Brownwell, 2009). In Confucianism the body is something that one has been given by the parents. In the Classics of Filial Piety it says: 身體髮膚，受之父母，不敢毀傷，孝之始也. (“Since we receive our bodies, flesh, hair, and bones from our parents, allowing no harm to come to our persons is the beginning of filial. 12. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(19) piety”) (Yun, 1977:59). This means that our bodies are not our own, as they have been passed on to us from our parents and it is our responsibility to preserve this body and keep it free from harm, so that it can be passed on as a healthy body to one’s descendants. This notion goes in hands with the Annals of Master Lü who states that parents and children are actually one body in two parts, or yi ti liang fen 一體兩分: “[The relationship between] father and mother and their child, and between the child and it’s father and mother, is that of one body in two parts, of a common qi in two breaths. They are like grasses and plants from the same flowers and fruit, like trees from the same rootstock (lit., “root mind,” gen xin 根心). They may be in different places, but they communicate with one another; they may have unseen intentions, but they are. 政治大. known to one another; one may be sick or in pain, and the other will try to help them; one may be worried or anxious, and the other will sense it; when one is alive and. 立. flourishing, the other is happy; when one dies, the other is sad. Such is what it means. ‧ 國. 學. to have the close intimacy of bone and flesh” (Knoblock and Riegel, 2001 cited in Sommer, 2010:310).. ‧. As we will see in the later part of the research, this notion of the body being something that we have been given and that should be respected and not be harmed is still very persistent in. y. Nat. sit. Taiwanese society. In Western societies the idea that the body is something that belongs to. er. io. oneself and can be freely “designed” as one pleases is more dominantly represented but can be. al. v i n C body concepts in general, Having explored Eastern and Western h e n g c h i U I would now like to continue n. increasingly heard from Taiwanese voices, as well.. the discussion on the main topic of my research, which is how and why bodies are being modified, purposefully changed without and within. In what way these two discussed concepts play a role in Taiwanese contemporary society, will be explored in the results section.. 2.2.. Tattoo as Body Art and Body Modification The body is the physical link between ourselves, our souls, and the outside world. Victoria Ebin. An individual’s appearance is undoubtedly one of the first and most salient characteristics noticed when we as people encounter each other. Physical appearance is associated with one’s 13. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(20) self-concept and identity and has impact on our social interactions with others (Kent, 2012). Thus, the aesthetics of our body are fundamental in our attempt of creating a sense of identity and deriving meaning from our social environment. A defining characteristic of the cultural experience of the human body in recent historical period in the West, is the ubiquitous idea of its mutability: that the “body, rather than being destiny, is ours to write, rewrite, and perform” (Cole and Haebich, 2010:147). This is an important feature of both late twentieth century popular culture and recent feminist theoretical work. Since the early 1990s, feminist theories of the body have noted that the ‘biological’ body can no longer be perceived as a closed, monolithic, objective entity but can be understood as shifting from a complete ‘object’ to an unfinished, ‘becoming’ agent (Haraway, 1991). This notion reflects earlier mentioned dualistic thought. In everyday life, this can be seen in. 政治大 and in the late twentieth-century 立upswing of tattooing (Cole and Haebich, 2010:147).. widespread gym and fitness culture, in plastic surgery, in the emergence of a ‘queer’ identity;. ‧ 國. 學. Every culture’s ideas about the body reflect and sustain ideas about the broader social and cultural universe in which these bodies are located (Benson, 2000). There are many different. ‧. ways in which bodies are understood, used and experienced culturally and the same is true for the array of cross-cultural techniques that exist to mark and reshape the body (Cole and Haebich,. Nat. sit. y. 2010). The reworking of the body creates rich surfaces and depths that carry social and cultural. io. er. signification (Cole and Haebach, 2010), which shall be explored further in the following.. al. n. v i n C h Practices of Tattoos A Brief History of the Earliest engchi U. 2.2.1.. Tattooing is the “practice of inscribing the skin with permanent designs and patterns” or the “insertion of indelible pigment” (Deter-Wolf, 2016:19; Kent, 2012:388). Tattoos have a long history in the human existence and first evidence of humans bruising and marking themselves with colour can be traced back to as early as the Tyrolean Iceman Ötzi who lived around 3,000 BC (Deter-Wolf, 2016). Even more ancient evidence was found in carved figures from European sites that date back 6,000 years BC and Egyptian figurines from 4,000 BC that show facial and body markings thought to represent tattoos (Sanders, 1989). Tattoos have played a significant role in human’s sense of belonging, creation of meaning and negotiation of relationships between individuals and their society, nature, and the spiritual realm.. 14. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(21) Indigenous cultures from every continent except Antarctica included tattooing as an essential element of their cultural fabric (Deter-Wolf, 2016). As early as 2,000 BC tattooing spread from the Mideast to the Pacific Islands by way of India, China, and Japan. Theories of how this diffusion took place, vary. It is most probable that the practice was carried by the Ainu, a nomadic Caucasian group that now inhabits the northern island of Japan (Sanders, 1989). By 1,000 BC tattooing was a well-established decorative form practiced all around the globe and typically had religious or magical purposes, often providing a means of identification or protection in the afterlife; helping charm members of the opposite sex, protecting one from accident, preserving youth or bringing good health (Sanders, 1989). To name one specific example, one of the most sophisticated, decorative, and rank-symbolizing. 政治大. tattooing in tribal societies was and, to a limited degree, still is, practiced by the Maoris of New Zealand (Sanders, 1989). Maori men and women received tattoo designs in different degrees,. 立. for example women had moko markings on the lip and chin area, while men carried extensive. ‧ 國. 學. facial and body tattoos consisting of individual geometric patterns and ornamental designs (Simmons, 1986). Moko designs were inscribed in an extremely painful process with a serrated. ‧. bone or shells that were dipped in pigment made from oily smoke of burning nut kernels. This process was surrounded by extensive ritual and usually lasted for several days, and the recipient. Nat. sit. y. was allowed limited social contact and forbidden to touch food. Typically, one side of a man’s. io. er. face was decorated when he was young and completed years later. In Maori tribes, the more tattoos you had, the higher was your status to be considered. Enemies’ heads that were. n. al. i n U. v. decorated with tattoos were kept as proud victories, whilst non-tattooed ones were discarded. Ch. engchi. (Paine, 1979). I come back to another example of Taiwanese indigenous tattooing in the section of Eastern tattoo history.. 2.2.2. The History of Western Tattooing. One of the ancient tribal groups that practiced extensive tattooing were the Picts inhabiting the British Isles. They were named for the iron implements they used for creating tattoo designs; the term ‘Briton’ (a person from Britain) is derived from a Breton word meaning “painted in various colours” (Paine, 1979:19). Heavy decorations with animal designs were intended to enhance their fearsome appearance and Caesar the Great noted how they were “frightful to look upon in battle” (Oettermann, 1985:11). This contact with invading Roman 15. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(22) legions led to the adoption of tattooing by the occupying Roman soldiers. The practice became popular and spread within the military until the third century when it was banned by the Christian Emperor Constantine, who believed it violated God’s handiwork (Sanders, 1989). The practice of tattooing was revived centuries later by the Anglo-Saxons, who tattooed pledges of devotion to religion or loved ones. But from the eight to the tenth century, western tattooing was again banned by the Church because it disfigured the body created in God’s image (Sanders, 1989). Tattooing became a frequent practice again for crusaders, who marked themselves with the crucifix or other religious images to ensure a Christian burial should they die in a foreign land. Until the eighteenth century this form of religious tattooing was the only significant practice responsible for retaining tattooing within western culture (Sanders, 1989).. 政治大. According to Sanders (2006), the modern history of Western / European tattooing begins with Captain James Cook and his encounters with tribal tattooing in the South Pacific. In July of. 立. 1769 he noted in the ship’s journal:. ‧ 國. 學. “Men and women [of Tahiti] paint their bodies. In their language, this is known as tatu. They inject a black colour under their skin, leaving permanent trace… Some have. ‧. ill-designed figures of men, birds or dogs; the women generally have the figure Z simply on every joint of their fingers or toes…These arches seem to be their great pride as both. y. Nat. sit. men and women show them with great pleasure.” (Thevoz, 1984:39-40 quoted in. er. io. Sanders, 2006:14). al. n. v i n C h for the practiceUof tattooing until this point. Officers replaced the term “pricking” that was used engchi Cook introduced the Tahitian word ta-tu (meaning “to strike” or “to mark”), which soon. and sailors of the Endeavor received tattoos from Tahitian artisans to commemorate their. adventures and soon the heavily tattooed Tahitian prince named Omai was brought back from the journey and exhibited as an object of great curiosity to members of the British upper class (Sanders, 1989:15). He was the first of a series of tattooed people that were displayed in Western aristocratic circles at the end of the eighteenth century. Jean Baptist Cabri, a French sailor, was the first tattooed European to be publicly displayed in 1795 and by 1850 he and other heavily tattooed Europeans made a living by becoming the object of great public interest (Sanders, 1989). By the late nineteenth century a lively tattoo fad was initiated by their often fanciful stories that got printed in the popular media, however, most of the tattooees still remained to be sailors, craftsmen, the military, and members of the aristocracy, such as Czar Nicholas II of Russia, King George of Greece, King Oscar of Sweden, and Kaiser Wilhelm of 16. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(23) Germany (Sanders, 1989). These tattoos were often collected during travels in the orient and popular designs were South Sea and nautical images, identification marks, religious tattoos, marks of political allegiance, and love vows (Sanders, 1989). This “tattoo rage” soon made its way across the Atlantic to the rich and powerful in America, where the first professional tattoo artists started their practice and tattooed especially soldiers and sailors (Sanders, 1989:16). One of them was Samuel F. O’Reilly, who played a major role in the development of the electric tattoo machine and received the first patent for an electromagnetic tattoo machine in 1891 (Sanders, 1989). Through this technological innovation tattooing became less painful and increased the rate at which tattooing became diffused in society. In 1904, Charlie Wagner was awarded a patent that significantly improved tattoo machines with two electromagnetic coils set transversely to the tube and needle, which until. 政治大. today changed little in the basic tattoo equipment (Sanders, 1989).. 立. However, tattooing began to lose favour among the American elite in the early twentieth. ‧ 國. 學. century and increasingly came to be seen as vulgar and connected with disreputable urban areas (Sanders, 1989). Ward McAllister, who was a prominent member of the New York elite stated. ‧. to the press that tattooing was “certainly the most vulgar and barbarous habit the eccentric mind of fashion ever invented” (cited in Parry, 1971:102). By the 1920s, tattooing continuously fell. Nat. sit. y. into disrepute in the United States through the elite’s expressed distaste, the media that covered. io. er. stories about venereal diseases contracted in unhygienic tattoo establishments, and the increased popularity of tattooing within socially marginal subcultures (Sanders, 1989).. n. al. i n U. v. Additionally, tattooing was seen as a deviant practice because men and women with tattoos. Ch. engchi. were commonly exhibited as curiosities in circuses and sideshows, such as in so called “freak shows”, where tattooed dwarfs, wrestlers, tattooed ladies, and entire tattooed families were displayed (Parry, 1971:58-78).. 2.2.3. The History of Tattoos in East Asian Culture. Until today, Japan is known for its most beautiful tattooing art which is practiced with great skill. There, the practice of tattooing revived especially in the thirteenth century largely as a means of marking criminals and other social undesirables with symbols indicating the nature and geographic location of their crime (Sanders, 1989). By the early seventeenth century irebokuro (from “ire” meaning “to inject” and “bokuro” meaning “beauty spot”) enjoyed a 17. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(24) wide popularity in Japan, which was a common practice for people to have a loved one’s name or a vow to Buddha inscribed on their skin (Sanders, 1989:12). This decorative practice eventually died out due to government suppression. Tattooing revived again a century later during the Edo Period when one of the four greatest Chinese novels Shui Hu Zhuan 水滸傳 (‘Water Margin’), which tells the story of 108 outlaws, became immensely popular among Japanese from all social strata. Popular outlaw characters in the novel, such as Shi Jin 史進, known as “the nine-dragon man” 九紋龍, who bore extensive full-body tattoos, inspired Japanese artists to imprint heroic figures, gods, mythical creatures, and other traditional and popular images on skin (Reed, 2000:370). These so called irezumi designs were practiced until the mid-nineteenth century until it was. 治政 barbarism. However, Western visitors were fascinated 大 by Japanese tattooing skills and 立merchants, and dignitaries let their bodies be engraved by the European and American sailors, once again forbidden by the Emperor, who saw it as an immoral practice and as a sign of. ‧ 國. 學. now called hori artists (meaning “to engrave”) (Sanders, 1989: 12). Due to the prohibition, irezumi became an underground and disvalued body art among the Japanese and was adopted. ‧. by labourers, artisans, criminals, entertainers, and, especially, fire fighters (Sanders, 1989: 12). Today, the practice continues to be favoured by many members of the yakuza, the organized. Nat. sit. y. criminal underworld (Richie, 1973 cited in Sanders, 1989:13). It is in Japan that non-Western. io. er. tattooing developed to its most complex, colourful and artistic (Sanders, 1989). Even though it fell into official disfavour, the art of Japanese hori is still practiced and continues to flourish.. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Japanese tattooing is a significant modern phenomenon and has had a major impact on the rest. engchi. of East Asian tattoo culture and contemporary Western body art. In Taiwan, tattoos are a big part of aboriginal culture, that until the last century had been practiced more widely but is now beginning to extinct. In fact, Taiwan is believed to be the homeland of all Austronesian peoples, which include indigenous people from the Philippines, Indonesia and Polynesia, that all have strong tattoo tradition (Blust, 1995). These indigenous tattoo traditions have, depending on the culture and time period, “functioned to signal entry into adulthood, reflect social status, document martial achievement, demonstrate lineage and group affiliation, and to channel and direct preternatural forces” (Deter-Wolf et al., 2016:19). Taiwan’s head hunters are a popular example of how indigenous people practiced tattooing: men would go out to hunt for human heads and with a successful hunt would attain a special tattoo on their own heads. Parallel to this development of aboriginal tattoo culture having 18. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(25) almost vanished, the counter development of especially the younger Taiwanese generation raising an interest in tattoo fashion has become evident. Taiwanese society consists of 95% Han-Chinese, with most of them having come to Taiwan in the immigration wave from Mainland China in the 17th to 19th century and between 1945 and 1949 (Yang, 2017) which is why until today Chinese culture has had a strong impact on Taiwanese society. Tattoos have been part of Chinese and Taiwanese culture for a long time. Back in the day, with the exception of Aboriginal tattoos, they have been mostly used for marking criminals or for identification practices within underground gangster circles. They were, just as in Western culture, highly stigmatized and cause for social ostracism, however there is evidence that even in early China people have been getting tattoos for purely voluntary and decorative practices (Reed, 2000). Tattoo is represented in several types of early Chinese. 政治大. texts, including early prose works such as the Shangshu 尚書, historical works such as the Shiji. 立. 史記 and later dynastic histories, dynastic penal codes, Zhiguai 志怪 and Biji 筆記 works and. ‧ 國. 學. miscellanies (Reed, 2000). One important source is the Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎 a book by Duan Chengshi 段成式 (c.800 – 863) who describes tattoo practices in early China from an. Nat. y. ‧. aesthetic point of view and which I will come back to later.. sit. The most frequently mentioned types of tattoo in early Chinese sources are “tattoo as one. er. io. defining characteristic of a people different from the majority population, tattoo as punishment,. al. tattoo of slaves, tattoo as facial adornment, tattoo in the military, and figurative and textual. n. v i n tattoo” (Reed, 2000:360). However,Cthe terminology used for “tattoo” varies in Chinese and hengchi U there is no great consistency; it is not the case that tattoo as punishment is always called by one name and tattoo as decoration by another (Reed, 2000:361). Some of the terms encountered in early texts are qing 黥 (to brand, tattoo), mo 墨 (to ink), ci qing 刺青 (to pierce and [and make] green), wen shen 紋身 (to pattern the body), diao qing 雕青 (to carve and [make] green), ju yan 沮顏 (to injure the countenance), wen mian 文面 (to pattern the face), li mian 剺面 (to cut the face), hua mian 畫面 (to mark the face), lou shen 鏤身 (to engrave the body), xiu mian 繍面 (to embroider [or ornament] the face), ke nie 刻涅 (to cut [and] blacken), nie zi 涅字 (to blacken characters), and ci zi 刺字 (to pierce characters). In general, if the tattooing of characters (字) appears in the term, it refers to punishment, but this is not true in every case. If a term literally means “to ornament” or “decorate”, it also does not necessarily mean that the tattoo was done voluntarily or for decorative purposes (Reed, 2000:361). 19. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(26) All these types of tattoos are usually described as “opprobrious”, meaning that those who have them are “stigmatized, impure, deviant and uncivilized” people (Reed, 2000:361). This strong belief was on one hand due to the belief that people with body markings were barbaric, but also because a filial person was meant to maintain their body as it was given to him by his parents. There can be found many records in Chinese literature that separate these people from the majority and underline an impression of “otherness” of those people. A wide-spread acceptance of tattoos thus does not ever seem to have existed in Chinese “mainstream” society (Reed, 2000:361).. Tattoos as a descriptive feature of non-Han “Barbarian” tribes, as well as tattoo as a punishment for crimes seem to be the two most recorded descriptions in tattoo history in China. Most of. 治政 of the Yangzi river (Reed, 2000:361). Comments made by大 Chinese literati about these people 立 are marked by a disinterested curiosity, and sometimes straightforward records of the important. the records refer to Man or Yi barbarians, broad terms that refer to various tribe located south. ‧ 國. 學. details that separated these people from the majority, the “civilized” people (Reed, 2000). Wang Bao 王褒 (1st century BC) for example writes that there are people, who cut their hair,. ‧. tattoo their heads, and go about with naked, tattooed bodies – highlighting the separateness of the people who practice tattoo (Reed, 2000).. sit. y. Nat. er. io. Tattooing was considered a “highly effective means of punishment” in China for most of. al. v i n criminal felt upon re-entering society as being one. From early times Cashhe was forever marked U i e h n g c to failing to preserve the wholeness of until recently, there has been strong stigma attached n. recorded history (Reed, 2000:364). This effectiveness came from the shame that a tattooed. one’s physical body as he or she is seen to have failed in one of the most important filial duties and thus has brought shame to the family, past, present, and future (Reed, 2000).. An exception of this general negative judgement lies in the above mentioned collection of informal narratives of Duan Chengshi, who was a collector of curious information. He observed and recorded in a way that shows his fascination, wonder and appreciation for tattoos in early China. In his 279th entry he writes:. “In the shopping streets of the capital (Chang’an) most of the young toughs are shaved bald and have their skin tattooed with the shapes of all kinds of things. They presume 20. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(27) on their position in the various armies to beat others and steal by force…There was a man called Wang Linu, who had hired a tattoo artist for five thousand cash. On his chest and belly appeared mountains, pavilions, parks, ponds, and kiosks, grass and trees, and birds and animals. There was nothing that wasn’t included. The tattoo was so fine that it was if it had been painted on with repeated fine washes of colour… There was also the bandit Zhao Wujian who was marked with one hundred and sixty overlapping impressions of wheeling magpies and other birds. On his left and right arms he had tattooed the poem:. Wild ducks resting overnight on a sandbank, Attacked by falcons morning after morning.. 治政 Their lives spared until this morning.” (cited大 in Reed, 2000:372) 立 Suddenly in alarm they fly into the water,. ‧ 國. 學. Theoretically, tattoo was abolished along with other mutilating punishments during the Han dynasty in 167 BC by Emperor Wen 文帝 but it was seemingly continued as a form of. ‧. punishment nonetheless (Reed, 2000). There are many references of it to have been reinstated as a legal form of punishment in the Song, Yuan, and Qing dynasties (Reed, 2000). Tattoo as. y. Nat. sit. punishment was often combined with exile, ensuring that the outlawed would be removed as. al. er. io. far as possible from law-abiding and civilized people (Reed, 2000). One of the “punishment. n. treatise” was the Song Shi 宋史 which listed two hundred crimes that should be punished by. Ch. tattoo and banishment (Reed, 2000).. engchi. i n U. v. Another form of tattooing in ancient China was the marking of slaves and concubines, as well the tattoo as a cosmetic. Slaves, who had attempted escape, were branded on the forehead identifying the ownership and there are accounts of concubines being marked because of jealousy (Reed, 2000). In the Wei Zhi 魏志, Pei Songzhi 裴松之 notes in a passage of Yuan Shao’s 袁紹 biography that his wife had all five of his concubines killed after Yuan died. She believed, as many people in East Asia still do today, that the dead have consciousness and thus had the concubine’s hair cut off and their faces branded, to destroy their appearance in the afterlife, and to cause Yuan not to wish to see them (Reed, 2000). Tattoo as a makeup fashion is described in Duan’s 292nd entry:. 21. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

(28) “In makeup fashions of today, high value is placed on the facial ‘mole’. For example, there is the mole of a crescent-moon shape, which is called a ‘yellow star mole’. The fame of the so-called ‘mole inlay’ derives no doubt from Lady Deng, wife of Sun He of the state of Wu. Sun He favoured her. Sun He was once dancing drunkenly and with abandon, when he accidentally cut Lady Deng’s cheek, drawing blood. Deng was delicate and weak, and became more and more miserable, so Sun He called the palace physician to mix some medicine. The physician said that he should be able to get rid of the mark if he could procure some bone marrow of white otter and mix it with powders of jade and amber. Sun He had to spend one hundred gold pieces to buy the white otter before they were able to mix the ointment. They added too much amber, however, so the ointment was inferior and the scar didn’t disappear. On Lady Deng’s left cheek there. 治政 more imbued with fascinating charm. Those of Sun大 He’s consorts who wished to gain 立 his favour all marked dots on their cheeks with cinnabar. Only then would they gain his. was now a red spot that resembled a mole. When people saw it they found her even. ‧ 國. 學. attention.” (cited in Reed, 2000:368). ‧. Tattoo was also used by soldiers in some armies as means to demonstrate devotion. They usually showed a brief oath of several words that would be tattooed on the arms, back or chest.. y. Nat. sit. The purpose was likely to “instil a sense of strength and valour” (Reed, 2000:369). The armies. er. io. of Shu tattooed themselves with the shapes of axes for courage but one of the most best-known examples is the famous Song general Yue Fei 岳飛 (1103-41), who’s back bore the oath. al. n. v i n “Jinzhong baoguo” 精忠報國 (“serve with absolute loyalty”) (Reed, 2000:369). This Cthe h enation ngchi U. information can be found in several Chinese literary works, one of them being the Chuanqi drama “Rushi guan” 如是觀, where Yue Fei’s mother is crying while she pierces her son’s skin with a needle and ink (Reed, 2000). A man bearing this type of tattoo is, at least in the popular imagination, considered to be heroic and Yue Fei’s tattoo depicts a case where there’s no negative connotation carried (Reed, 2000). Probably, tattoo was of all Chinese social groups most acceptable among members of the armies; perhaps sometimes the decorative tattoo was employed to cover or hide other types of tattoos (Reed, 2000).. As prevalent as modern Chinese, as well as Taiwanese tattoo practices may be, they unfortunately cannot be said to be a direct descendant of ancient Chinese practices (Reed, 2000). Tattoo as punishment, as facial cosmetic, as mark of bravery, and as personal body decoration 22. DOI: 10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.004.2018.F05.

#刺青 台灣刺青文化探討研究 - 政大學術集成

#刺青台灣刺青文化探討研究 - 政大學術集成