Oriental Wisdom For Your Tattoo

In this post I’ll share with you 10 Chinese idioms about the sweetest thing I believe in life: LOVE. Most people have their first tattoos to show to the world how love means to them. The majority of them would have their lovers’ name on their body. Are you the one among them? If you are, please don’t miss the following stuff. After you have read this post, I believe you will be provided a brand new perspective of what other GREAT stuff you can have on your body to tell the whole world that love means everything much to you. Ready ? Let’s get it started.

No 1.

比翼双飞 ( bi yi shuang fei ) literally means “fly wing to wing”. It is used to describe deeply beloved couples that move on with life to the fullest. 比翼 means “wing to wing”, and it’s most well-known in the classic romantic verse of Chinese poetry ”在天愿作 比翼 鸟，在地愿为连理枝” . ( On high, we’d be two love birds flying wing to wing. On earth, two trees with branches twined from spring to spring. )

Personally I believe this is the best verse ever to celebrate the eternity of love. What I also firmly believe is that nearly any Chinese would associate 比翼双飞 with that classic verse, and by doing this have a strong feeling of sweetness.

Have you already found the one that you just want to spend the rest of your life with? If you have, 比翼双飞 would definitely be a lovely tattoo to have on you as well as your beloved.

No 2.

海枯石烂 ( hai ku shi lan ) literally means “when all seas are drained and all rocks are decayed”. People use it to show an unusually strong will, which often suggests an ever lasting love. It’s like  ”I will love you until 海枯石烂”. Can you sense how much love in it when one says it whole-heartedly ? For Chinese people, this type of expression has much more power than “I will always love you”.

Another famous romantic saying of such kind of expression would be “山无陵, 江水为竭, 冬雷震震, 夏雨雪, 天地合, 乃敢与君绝( I shall part with you only when the mountains disappear, when the seas are drained, when it thunders in winters, and when it snows in summer )”.

I hope now you may get the way that Chinese people express love. We tend not just spit it out directly, but in a subtle and tender way, which I think is the sweetest thing during an romantic relationship.

No 3.

山盟海誓 ( shan meng hai shi ) literally means “promises of mountains and vows of seas”.This is just another example of comparing nature to the eternity of love. 山盟海誓 suggests that the vows between lovers would endure as long as the mountains and seas. We can see a little by now that Chinese people tend to have some twists and turns when trying to say “forever”. Well, if that’s the way you prefer love to be expressed, you probably would also love to have 山盟海誓 inked on you.

No 4.

天长地久 ( tian chang di jiu ) are most frequently used in wedding ceremonies by guests to wish for a lifelong happiness to bride and groom. Literally it means “to last as long as the universe”. You may feel somewhat strange by this kind of expression, but it’s quite common for Chinese people. Personally I have never attended a wedding ceremony in which guests propose a toast without uttering “天长地久”, which I think  has practically become an unsaid custom already.

I strongly recommend this one if you have just got married because 天长地久 looks so wedding-y to Chinese people, it seems as if you were blessed by us all. Just imagine how sweet this would be!

No 5.

I just came up this phrase as I reflect on the other frequent words to appear on a Chinese wedding ceremony. I bet without a hint and you can already figure that this one has the most similar meaning as 天长地久. That’s right, 百年好合 ( bai nian hao he ) is another saying to wish for a lifelong joyful journey to the couple and it literally means “to live happily together for a hundred years”. In Chinese, 百(or hundred)  does not literally mean a hundred in phrases. Instead, it suggests a much larger number.

Still, since 百年好合 almost appears exclusively on wedding occasions, you are most encouraged to have it inked on you provided you have recently said “I do” to a priest.  What’s more, if you have a playful soul and feel not enough about the word “百”, you may switch to 千(a thousand), or even 万(ten thousand). With “千年好合” or “万年好合” on you，I’m pretty sure that you are right on your way to blowing Chinese people away with your humorous creativity.

No 6.

If loyalty means much to you, you may take a good look at this one. 忠贞不渝 ( zhong zhen bu yu ) means “unswervingly loyal” , and it’s most commonly used between lovers to demonstrate their loyalty to each other.

You would probably notice the Chinese character “忠( loyalty ) ” on Allen Iverson’s neck, provided you are an NBA fan. If used alone,  ”忠” means loyalty to one’s master for whom one serves. So from a Chinese perspective, I have always believed AI got this one to show his loyalty to 76ers other than to his family as he had claimed.

“忠贞不渝” has nothing to do with masters. So if you value loyalty so much and want to show it to the one you love, try this one and never give  ”忠”  a try.

No 7.

执子之手，与子偕老 ( zhi zi zhi shou, yu zi xie lao ) simply means “take thy hand, together we age”. I think by interpreting this way you may sense the simplicity and antiquity in it better.  This verse originated from Shi Jing, or the Classic of Poetry, which is the earliest existing collection of Chinese poems(some were written as early as 1000 BC).

The verse is well-known for its rhetorical-free style. Unlike many other flowery verses, it’s simple yet sweet. That’s what makes it stand out and becomes one of the most classic romantic verse in Chinese literature.

Have you ever dreamed of the perfect guy or girl that you just want to grow old with ? Or, are you lucky enough to have already been in love with the one you want to grow old with ? Imagine having “执子之手 ( take your hand ) ” on you and “与子偕老 ( to grow old with you ) ” on the one you love, I think that would just make you two more inseparable than ever ! Really!

 No 8.

 连枝共冢 has the exact meaning as “忠贞不渝” as I had mentioned above (see No.6), which indicates an unusual strong and loyal bond between lovers (mostly couples). In fact, you may see 连枝共冢 as one with much more firmness since it literally means “to intertwine togerther under the earth”. Well, 冢 means “tomb” and this idiom does have the the implication of death. I notice you this in case you are uncomfortable with etching something related to death on your body. What I also want to mention is that , when associated with love, death no longer becomes a formidable term to Chinese. There are so many classic and everlasting love stories in which lovers choose to die together eventually. In these cases, it was death that made their love immortal. That’s why Chinese people never get uncomfortable with romantic phrases containing “death”. Instead, we get touched.

No 9.

鸾凤和鸣 describe a super-sweet and peaceful life between married couples.  Literally it means “harmonious twittering between wonder birds”. As we can see here, this idiom is not intended to describe unmarried lovers. I guess the reason is simple: it’s much harder to keep life romantic after the marriage than before. It reminds me of the saying that before marriage, passion is all that needed to keep the relationship going; After marriage, as passion wanes, we’ve got to have wisdom, or simply, use brain to manage the relationship.

No 10.

相濡以沫 means “to help each other when both are in humble circumstances”. This idiom originated from a story in which two fish were trapped on earth. They survived by sharing the tiny humid breath of each other and eventually returned to the river.

Today I think it has deviated the original meaning a little bit. It is now commonly used to praise the touching scene of aged couples taking good care of each other. But be aware that it is by no means to describe senior human alone. Couples that firmly support each other in ups and downs are definitely qualified for this idiom.

I suggest you etch this one if all you want now is get married with the one you love so much with whom you do want to spend your 50th anniversary.