When and what dynasty did China's ancient tattoos begin?

It first started from the pre-Qin era.

Since the pre-Qin period, the punishment of torture is tattooing the prisoner's face. In China's ancient books, there have been words such as tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, etc., and there are other examples of using tattoo as a warning, such as the story of my mother-in-law's tattoo.

But slowly the tattoo evolved into a personal decoration. For example, in Outlaws of the Marsh, one of the four classical novels, at least three important figures have tattoos on their bodies: Shang Lu, Jiu Wen Long Shi Jin and prodigal Yan Qing.

Extended data:

Cultural differences of tattoos at home and abroad;

1, foreign culture

In western society, people who like to write novel patterns often write a few Chinese characters that are not necessarily coherent. For example, NBA players tattooed the word "Mianzhu" on the right upper arm, and NBA player Iverson also tattooed the word "Zhong" on his neck.

Japanese tattoo lovers sometimes worship famous tattoo artists, hoping to keep their works on their bodies. Some Japanese people like national representative tattoos such as Ukiyo-e painting.

2. Domestic customs

Among the ethnic minorities in Xishuangbanna, China, mainly Dai and Bulang men have the custom of tattooing.

It is a very painful thing for them to pin all kinds of decorations on their legs, chests, backs and arms and paint them with indigo or bile until they are blue all their lives. According to the modern book "Tattoo of Mother-in-law in the Car".

Tattoo patterns can be roughly divided into four categories:

The first is animals, such as elephants, tigers, leopards, dragons and horses, deer and monkeys.

The second kind of patterns are moire, square, circle, flowers and so on.

Third, writing, including Dai Buddhist mantras and Buddhist scriptures;

The fourth is other classes, such as curves, straight lines, geometric figures and so on.

Baidu encyclopedia _ tattoo