Chinese tattoos are a beautiful and mysterious form of self expression, especially if they include the Chinese writing symbols. So if you're planning to get one of these tattoos, here's how to get the perfect design.

Number 1: Get Your Chinese Character Tattoo Right The First Time

Chinese symbol tattoos are one of the designs that are most likely to go wrong. Mistranslations, poor designs and bad alignment can all render your new design meaningless.

Sure, you can get them removed, but at present it's a painful and costly process that isn't guaranteed to be 100% successful.

So take your time, get professional advice and make sure you get a good quality, authentic design that you're happy with before you go under the needle. Don't end up looking like the victim of a cruel practical joke.

Number 2: Don't Use Kanji Designs From Tattoo Studios

Many tattoo studios provide a variety of pre designed Kanji symbols that you can have tattooed onto your body. These are cheap and quick, but suffer from a number of major disadvantages.

First, many of them have been poorly translated, so you may end up with a design that means something different to what you expected. Second, many of these standard designs have been drawn incorrectly, which destroys their meaning.

So instead of going into your local tattoo studio and picking a design off the wall or from a folder, do your own research. Decide the words that you want to appear in your Chinese tattoo, get them professionally translated and then get a custom design created to your order.

Number 3: Get Advice From A Chinese Person

This is absolutely vital. Chinese writing is extremely complex and can often be used to give one word in several different meanings. So make sure you speak to a Chinese person who can verify that you have the right symbols to match your intended meaning. If possible, make sure that they have experience of Chinese symbol tattoos.

Number 4: Select Your Words Carefully

When you get a new tattoo, it's important to assume that it will be with you for the rest of your life. So before you decide to get a Chinese symbol tattoo think long term and try to select wide over-arching ideas that express who you are and what you stand for.

For example, timeless ideas such as freedom, love and hope are always good choices.

And whatever you do, avoid fashionable words as they have a nasty habit of falling out of fashion within a short space of time. The aim is to select a design that you'll be as happy with in twenty years time as you are today.

Number 5: Select Your Artist Carefully

A tattoo that solely consists of Chinese characters can look rather plain unless the writing is completed with a certain amount of style and flair.

Even worse, it's easy for non Chinese artists to unintentionally deface the delicate Chinese symbols. Chinese calligraphy is very precise. The strokes have to be a certain shape and be aligned properly, otherwise the meaning of the design can be lost.

So it's vital to select a tattoo artist who is experienced in producing Chinese calligraphy.

Finally, if you want your Chinese tattoo to have even more impact, consider adding a small picture to your Chinese symbols.

The Chinese dragon is popular with men, while the Chinese phoenix is a favorite with many women. Both of these mythical creatures represent power and luck and will make a wonderful addition to your perfect Chinese tattoo.  Gustavo Gomez