I just saw a Caucasian woman with a Chinese tattoo that says, 'love birds' in Chinese. When read in the Chinese context, it means either you love birds or and you are a bird lover!
The Chinese calligraphy may look impressive, especially when combined with a Chinese dragon tattoo, but get it wrong and you may be looking like a clown with a puzzle tattoo instead. And by the way, Chinese tattoos are not Japanese tattoos.
For those thinking of inking the Chinese characters tattoos, I would suggest consulting a Chinese speaking tattoo artist before the procedure.
Chinese tattoos with just the characters or writing alone can look quite boring unless the calligraphy is done tastefully, which is rare unless the tattoo artist is trained to write and have practiced Chinese calligraphy for a period of time.
The Chinese phoenix tattoo is a very powerful symbol for women and the Chinese dragon is a good one for men.