A man shows off his tattoo sleeve. Photo: Screenshot of AliExpress

People jealous of arm tattoos but fearful of the pain can get a pair of them from Chinese retailers and become a "cool person." 

Searching "tattoo sleeves" on AliExpress, the global retail platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, generates 11,337 results in all styles, including flowers, dragons and comic characters. One can easily get one for less than a dollar plus shipping. 

The highest-ranking sleeves on AliExpress received 2,491 comments from the US, Russia, Poland, Italy, Brazil and other countries. 

Eighty-two percent of buyers gave a 5/5 review of the product. "Excellent product. You won't be disappointed. Looks so real. Super fast delivery," one customer said. "Looks real. Scared relatives," a Russian customer wrote. 

A buyer shows off its tattoo sleeve. Photo: Screenshot of AliExpress

Photos posted by buyers show that the tattoo sleeves not only conquered young people, but also senior citizens and children alike.

A Global Times reporter found such sleeves are also available on Amazon, but with fewer choices and higher prices. 

The success of tattoo sleeves led to an expansion into other apparel, such as tattoo T-shirts and leggings. 

The tattoo sleeves craze in foreign countries is in sharp contrast to its cold reception in their birthplace, China. Chinese buyers who choose such sleeves normally use them to protect them from sunlight, like drivers and motorcyclists.

Results of a search of "tattoo sleeves" in Chinese on Alibaba's Taobao platform are buried at the bottom of the page, with few purchases and comments. 

Sensing the popularity of tattoo sleeves in West, one user on Zhihu, China's Quora-like platform, asked if anyone will buy it. The answers were overwhelmingly negative. "It looks so fake and corny," one of them said. 

The opposite reaction to such a product indicated "the different perceptions of tattoos in China and the West," Zhu Wei, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Zhu noted that in ancient China, tattoos were used to mark criminals in prison, which has an impact on Chinese people's understanding of tattoos - not a positive cultural symbol. When people, especially the older generations, see a tattoo, the first impression they get is likely to be one of danger and "bad guys" in society, Zhu said.