Don Hardy, US tattoo mogul. Photos by Zou Hong / China Daily

Chinese rethink ink

Marks of ethnic identity

The shifting perception of tattoos as art has made China - and Dong's studio in particular - a destination for such international moguls of the trade as US tattoo mogul Don Hardy.

Hardy says people kept their distance when he visited a bookshop in the Sanlitun Village shopping center. But nobody paid him any heed in the elevator.

He was in China to stage an art show of his tattoo designs. His influence on Dong's work - Dong has long admired Hardy's creations - is clear in the Chinese artist's studio. Colorful wall paintings make his workspace look more like an art studio than a tattoo parlor.

But change radiates beyond his studio, he says.

While the ink that covers his arms is permanent, he says that discrimination against it is fading by the day.

Erik Nilsson contributed to the story.