NEWS: Tattooed Tribe of Chinese Women: Scarred for Life?

i want a tattooed chick.

how sad. where does history go when it dies?

Adapt or die. By the sound of things those tattoos were in part an adaptation to their surroundings, one which is no longer necesary.

They quit using those tattoos for the same reason they started using them, cultural necesity.

The amount of money people spend on "whitening" creme in Asia is ridiculous.

Especially considering we're getting bombarded with tanning creme ads.

this is a changing trend. darker skin is becoming normal again. but the european/western hairstyles will be 'in' for a long time.

it is sad that society be it brittish, french, or another country assimilates smaller cultures and wipes out their cultural identity much like was done to Native Americans. this became much more evident to me recently when i was looking at child reering habits in Russia. in days past some of the things done by local indegenious people we would consider superstitious, silly, or worse, but it is sad that these things pass to the way side for the sake of progress, advancement, or conquest. it is interesting to note that about the same time the Li tribe stopped practicing their tattoo rituals (the 1960's) the people of Hawaii started a cultural revival (the 1970's) and began to reidentify with their roots and ancesteral ways. i am all for advancement but not at the expense of cultural uniqness. our differences are what make us great! It is a dark day indeed when a culture loses it's identity to the conquerer. such is the way of things though, and has been for thousands of years. I guess we all have to deal with it. I found the tattoos on the woman pictured to be reminisent of Maori facial tattoos. The Maori have fought long and hard to retain, mantain, and indeed revive their culture. in 1974 a cultural self identification act was passed that allowed people with no Maori ancestory to vote in Maori affairs. I don't 100% agree with this, but if these people are willing to carry on traditional values, beliefs and ways then yeah it is a great idea, i wish more cultures had "wannabes". it is sad to see the passing, or fading of so many traditional ways. there is knowledge to be learned from these civilizations, but to often with conquering cultures the goal is expansion of land and ideas alone, and not learning. it is hard to say what will happen with the Li Tribe's beautiful art form in this day and age, it could resurge like in hawaii and New Zeland, or perhaps we are bearing witness to the beginning of the end of cultural identity. if you don't fit into the cookie cutter way of things, you are expendable. I guess soon, the only cultural identification will be waving the flag of a country your grandparents lived in, but you have never been to, seen, or really known anything about. all you know is you are half this, 3/4 that, part this... it's sad that all you know is you're parent's, grandparents, etc, came from so and so, but never bother to learn anything about that culture... sad... yeah... that's life... i shouldn't drink so much then type. i get preachy.

I think it's sad people apply such double standards to everything. Nobody is regretting they don't dress in the traditional garb of their own great grandparents, but when some foreign culture gets rid of their little rituals it's suddenly a crying shame.

Losing rituals and culture is nothing new, it's been going on since the birth of mankind and they get replaced just as fast by new rituals and culture.

its a shame

its a shame

I agree. Human societies are a sum of their parts. Their parts are alive and in a constant state of flux, and so they are as well. Stagnation is death. Sometimes, a society feels a need to abandon a centuries-old tradition because it doesn't fit in with modern society and because the reason for that tradition no longer exists. So long as no one is forcing the individuals in that society to abandon their tradiditions (And, let's face it, no one is), who are we to say "That's such a shame"?

People don't wanna do it, they don't do it! It's kinda like foot binding (except it looks cool.) I'm really surprised this survived at all post-Cultural Revolution at all, I've never heard of it.

I'm sure it'll be revived at some point, like Samoan or Maori stuff.

Very interesting.

On one hand it speaks to the idea of women as property and *tools* of war and power, and on the other the loss of this cultural identity speaks about the power of Western culture to make non-Western cultures feel inferior, and reject their own identity.

Ah, I see you took Contempt 1101.

Contempt?

Pessimism didn't sound as fun.

^^^ Well, you've definitely cleared that up.

I'm off to take 3 major exams and write a late paper, but I'll get back to you. Deal?

Word.

Social Darwinism is kinda funny. But, only kinda.

grass is always greener, y'know?

agreed. i beleve that traditions should always be questioned and changed with the sorounding world and times.

lighter skin was in. but our asian culture has an interesting history with white skin in general. mostly it was thought that the whiter you were, the more noble you were. noble as in noble birth. as you didnt have to be outside in the sun to work. thus you see well to do women with rice umbrellas in the old paintings and prints.

never been to korea, but japan is beginning to reverse its style. tanning is becoming the normal now. the same is true for the large city areas of china

Hey guy. Try using the "enter" key to seperate paragraphs.