Kiu Fung's wolf tattoo: a dead giveaway of his ethnicity?

[Ken Cheng]

In DGSD '81, Kiu Fung finally realized that all the rumors about him being an ethnic Khitan were true when he saw a group of Khitan pilgrims disrobe, and he realized that all the men had wolf tatoos on their chests identical to the one that Kiu Fung had on his chest. Wouldn't this have been a dead giveaway for his ethnic origins for years? As the Chief of the Beggar's Union and a decidedly manly man, it's difficult to believe that Kiu Fung never went shirtless in the presence of his Beggar's Union comrades all those years. Somebody must have seen it and knew what it signified (or at least been curious enough to find out about it). If the tatoo was a giveaway to Kiu Fung's ethnicity, somebody should have noticed it *years* before his ethnicity became a public issue in the martial world.

[superboy]

It is possible that the former leader of the beggar already thought about the problem and prevented XF a chance to expose his chest in public. Afterall, how can he not knew about such a large tatoo on a baby?

[Han Solo]

Tattoos are never uncommon in tough guy's society or in mafia or a beggar's society, and tattoos came in plenty of forms. So QF having a wolf tattoo would not be unusual. Even if ppl see it, they would think that it was just his personal preferences.

[CC]

I am more curious as to why a tattoo on an infant doesn't distort after the said infant grows up to become one of the biggest most muscular man in wulin.

Khitan Tattoo technology.... amazing stuff!

[Xiao Feng]

hmmm, I thought not all qidan men have that type of tatoo but only of a certain lineage or related to Liao royalty? If thats the case then not many would have known what XF tatoo stands for. What would have gave away XF's identity should have been his looks cos I believe Qidans looks are different from Hans.

[andrea7974]

the main issue is: the tatto was given when QF was a baby. When he grew bigger, the tatto suppose to become faded or become too small to be seen, and the wolf tatto was supposed to be without any figure anymore. probably just a dark mark on his chest.

[charbydis]

Tattos are just chemicals that are absorbed by macrophages in the skin. Macrophages are always there, and replicate with age. Unless XF had a gigantic slash across his chest which the disrupts the distrubution of macrophage as local inflammation is caused, the tatoo would remain clear.

[Du Gu seeking a win]

Originally posted by charbydis
Tattos are just chemicals that are absorbed by macrophages in the skin. Macrophages are always there, and replicate with age. Unless XF had a gigantic slash across his chest which the disrupts the distrubution of macrophage as local inflammation is caused, the tatoo would remain clear.

¶

But the wolf tattoo on QF showed in TLBB2003 is impossible if one thinks of the tattoo on the infant QF. I'm backing up CC's view.

[Xiao Feng]

Did a little bit of research, seems there are 2 main clans among Khitans, the Yelu clan (the imperial family which all the Emperors of Liao belonged to) and the Xiao clan (most of the Empresses of Liao came from here). XF would be a member of the Xiao clan and the tatoo would be a mark which distinguishes their men with other common khitans. How many beggars would actually have seen the chest of a khitan of the Xiao clan which consists of very influential men in the Liao imperial court.

[Han Solo]

Originally posted by andrea7974
the main issue is: the tatto was given when QF was a baby. When he grew bigger, the tatto suppose to become faded or become too small to be seen, and the wolf tatto was supposed to be without any figure anymore. probably just a dark mark on his chest.

The same problem exist for XZ's incense marks.

[CC]

Originally posted by Han Solo
The same problem exist for XZ's incense marks.

Incense marks I can live with, since its just a bunch of round dots. A wolf's head is more intricate.

Plus from infant to adult, Xiao Feng's chest grew a LOT more then Xu Zhu's butt.

[rabadi]

Originally posted by Han Solo
The same problem exist for XZ's incense marks.

That must hurt like hell for baby XZ

[PJ]

Great topic.

Originally posted by rabadi
That must hurt like hell for baby XZ

just imagine circumcision.

[charbydis]

Wasn't the wolf's head just a tradition for some Khitan tribes? Maybe the ones that the beggars saw were not belonging to those tribes.

Anyway, I doubt the beggars would go stripping the corpses of dead Khitan warriors to have notuced the wolf head.

BTW< I wonder if XF ever asked his foster father, "How come I have a wolf on my chest?"