Chinese city orders taxi drivers to remove tattoos

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Chinese city orders taxi drivers to remove tattoos

Taxi drivers in Lanzhou, a north-western Chinese city, recently received an unusually blunt government directive: Get rid of your tattoos. The order came in August as Lanzhou's transportation committee rolled out a campaign to spruce up the image of local taxi drivers. Ostensibly, the no-tattoo rule was meant to keep some passengers from feeling uncomfortable. Officials in Lanzhou said “large tattoos on drivers may cause distress to passengers who are women and children.” The order has revived a debate over stigmatised body art. Many younger Chinese have embraced tattooing, but others associate it with criminality. The committee is also stating that “drivers who already have tattoos should remove them through surgical procedures to the greatest extent possible.” Yet, removing tattoos is painful and expensive, requiring repeat visits to scrub traces of permanent ink from the skin through laser technology. The process can also leave scars and faded patches of colour. And who is going to pay for the removal procedure? Lanzhou’s Transportation Committee? Tattoo culture began to flourish in China as the country opened up to the West ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Western influences and pop culture resonated with Chinese audiences. More entertainers and athletes began displaying tattoos in televised appearances, including Lin Dan, a badminton Olympic champion who bared his ink-stained arms during competitions. In China, the increasing acceptance of tattoos has been resisted by conservative gatekeepers. In 2017 and 2019 television censors blurred images of tattoos, as well as cleavage and men’s earrings. And last year, Chinese sports officials ordered soccer players with tattooed arms to wear long sleeves. Changchun, in the north-eastern province of Jilin, recently issued its own ban on tattoos for cabbies and told them to cover them up. Lanzhou’s directive may be among the most harsh for taxi drivers.