Tattoos, Piercings and Homosexuals in China

It seems that last time I was in China, tattoos were an alien thing, I didn't see one single inked person. Yet this time, just one year later, tattoos have had many an appearance on people's bodies. On the bus today was the first time I saw a guy with both sleeves tattooed. As well as huge plugs in his ears. I had to double take to make sure he wasn't western. Nope, sure enough he was chinese, and definitely looked out of place in such a country that deems pure skin a thing of beauty.

Piercings have also been more prominent. I don't mean normal lobe piercings, but more cartilage piercings have appeared around. I've actually stumbled a place in one of those really big department buildings with loads of little independent boutiques, that sells body jewellry. And right in the corner there was just a load of piercing equipment. It seemed hardly clean or sterilised. I was pretty put off, even though it kind of made me want to get a cartilage done cos it would be dirt cheap :/

The friend I made in Chengdu also informed me that there has been a high increase in the number of homosexual people, especially girls, and especially those that are about 13 or 14. And it seems that they are slightly looked down upon in society, especially by those of older generations. Now initially I thought that indeed, I did see a lot of teenage girls walking around holding hands, no biggie. But after my friend telling me this information, I consciously noticed a lot more lesbians walking around. And how could I tell? Because one of them would look like a man. Lols.