He went to the "Indian Tattoo", in downtown Kunming, to ask its owner and artist Gong Yuming to tattoo in his right arm the symbol of Beijing's bid for the Olympics.

"I didn't charge him, both because he is my friend and because I’m also in favor of Beijing's Olympic bid," said Gong, who used to be a tourist guide in the city and became interested in tattoos when he met a French artist named Ikiou, six years ago.

Since then, the young man has followed the French master in studying the art. He didn't pay for the tuition as the French master did not ask for. The master wanted to know how the Chinese young man became lured by the art.

In the past decades tattoos were virtually forbidden in China and even now many Chinese people still look down on the art, regarding it as a decadent thing, Gong said.

Gong, now 32, opened his "Indian Tattoo" last year with official approval from the local industry and commerce and health departments, and so far he has tattooed dozens of local and overseas clients, including young people and some open-minded government officials and professors.

Chinese have become increasingly tolerant towards the art and tattoo saloons have emerged in some big cities including Beijing, and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, where the country's reform and opening-up policies were first introduced and the first tattoo art association is located.

"Tattoos are painful, but it is a great experience when you get tattooed through pain," he said. The scabs come off and the tattoo appears about 10 days after the operation.

(Xinhua News Agency 08/09/2001)