A man in Jingbian, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has been ordered to apologize to the public for tattooing 43 minors in the province's first civil public interest litigation against underage tattoos.Source: China Newsweek

A man in Jingbian county, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has been ordered to apologize to the public for tattooing 43 minors in the province's first civil public interest litigation against underage tattoos.

The man surnamed Pang has provided tattoo services to 43 minors from 2017 to 2021, and he did not obtain a business license or a health certificate when engaging in the service. At the same time, Pang has also cleaned tattoos for minors without obtaining a medical cosmetology license.

On September 14, a local court in Shaanxi Province ordered Pang to immediately stop providing tattoo services to minors and make a written apology to the public on state-level media.

The minors' protection department of China's State Council earlier released a series of regulations on the management of tattoo services for minors on June 6, stipulating that any organization or individual is prohibited from providing tattoo services to minors, or coercing, fomenting, and inducing minors to get tattooed.

Some netizens doubt whether minors' subjectivity should be completely ignored and whether minors can get tattoos if they get acknowledged by their parents. "Minors are people without or with limited capacity for civil conduct, to whom tattoos are clearly beyond their understanding and rational judgment," said authorities.