By CNTV Panview editor team    

Editor’s foreword: "Looking China" International Youth Film Project is co-organized by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture (AICCC), Beijing Normal University and Huilin Foundation, which aims to showcase the contrasting simplicity and glamour, the antiquity and fashion of China through unique perspectives of young foreign film makers.

As of the year 2016, 101 students from 25 countries were invited to participate in the project. They were stationed in 13 municipality, provinces and autonomous regions here in China. Every filmmaker has worked out a 10-minute short film about Chinese culture around the topic of “ethnic minority”.

The film, ‘Inked Tradition,’ directed by Michael Cannon Miller and produced by Sun Yue, takes a closer focus on Chinese tattoo artists and their efforts to blend classical art with body ink drawings.

The video mainly features the young and beautiful Weng Menghan tattoo artist, who her philosophy on crafting beautiful ink drawings with a Chinese perspective.

The main styles for Chinese classical ink art are: animals & landscapes; realism - faces & emotions, as well as abstract - impressionism and images of non-existent objects.

Apparently, tattoos were popular during the Tang Dynasty and such artwork dates back to the Shang, Song and Yuan dynasties. The most favorite historical tattoo comes from General Yue Fei, who had the four characters “jing zhong bao guo”, which means “serving my country with unreserved loyalty” inked on the back by his mother.

Tattoo artists are expected to develop their calligraphy skills, along with blending bright colors with shadows for unique imagery.

The primary goal of Chinese tattoo artists is to create images uniquely their own.

Meanwhile, the older generation of Chinese remain reluctant to get tattoos, since they perceive it as rebelling against mainstream society. Nevertheless, the young are more open-minded and willing to get tattoos for self expression.

( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

Panview offers a new window of understanding the world as well as China through the views, opinions, and analysis of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.