A Tattoo Free of Charge Once a lady contacted me with a problem related to tattoos and Chinese symbols. Not so long ago she got a Chinese tattoo with the word "free" on her body and she found out that this "free" really meant "free of charge", rather than "liberated". Obviously, it is not nice to have a tattoo with the words "free of charge" on your skin, especially if you are a woman. Even if the tattoo looks really nice. One of the problems is, of course, that the tattoo artist does not speak Chinese. This is quite natural, since he cannot speak Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Tibetan and all those languages people want to have tattoos in. But often these tattoo designs are offered at tattoo parlors and thus customers have faith in their validity. At other times, these designs are gathered in unrelated places such as Chinese restaurants where an innocent Chinese waiter is asked to write down the word "free" in Chinese. What comes to your mind when you here the word "free" if you are a waiter in a Chinese restaurant? Free of charge. Not liberation, freedom from worldly chains. What is the solution? Make sure what it is that you are about to etch into your skin. Double-check it again. It is worth the effort.