I haven’t posted in a while. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my Chinese t-shirt venture and am putting into place some changes. About 3 months since starting this business I’ve already learned a lot, the biggest lesson being to take my time. I sat back and looked at some of the designs and felt that I could push them further. In the beginning I was so eager and in such a rush to put up the shirts that I cut down the design exploration process. Having had time to reflect upon the current collection of Chinese shirt designs I decided to go back and rework the ones that I felt could be developed some more. I will re-release these t-shirts with the new designs in the next couple of days, and for every design moving forward I will take the time and really push the idea before the shirt is released. So if you like the shirt designs as they are now be sure to pick them up because some of them won’t be available for long. Stay tuned to see what’s been re-released!

Oh and another change is the redesign of the website. I feel it needs a little oomph! But that will come later.

Yet another Chinese t-shirt design this month and this time it’s a set of 3, the Chinese Man on the Moon series. The design is a depiction of the famous photo of the moon landing but with Chinese flags (China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). It is probably what it would look like if the Chinese were the first to land on the moon.

I’ve been seeing a lot of astronaut t-shirts so I wanted to do my own and put a Chinese twist on it. The Chinese haven’t landed a man on the moon yet so I thought it would be cool if I did a “what if” situation. The thing about the Chinese as opposed to other countries is that there are multiple entities, and doing one flag is not enough, so I had to make this design a series. If I ever do other designs based on Chinese flags they will be a series as well.

Celebrate this fictitious moon landing and pick up the Chinese Man on the Moon T-Shirt of your favorite Chinese country: China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan!

Update: These shirts are re-releases. The new versions have stars and the lunar surface added. The visors of each astronaut has been slightly altered.

It’s the new year and I’ve been busy coming up with designs, the newest one being the Cpopstar T-shirt. Inspiration for the shirt came from all the rockstar shirts i’ve seen, so I took that idea and gave it a Chinese twist. Chinese pop music is huge in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, and the artists are idolized by millions. I must admit even I will listen to some Jay Chou or Jolin Tsai at times when the mood strikes. Just like how everyone has an inner rockstar or an inner popstar, every Chinese person has an inner cpopstar. At karaokes all over Asia, people love to be a popstar for the night and sing popular Chinese songs til dawn. This shirt would definitely come in handy during those nights, so pick up the Cpopstar T-Shirt today!

The first Chinese t-shirt design for 2010 is another year of the tiger design. For this shirt I took the paw print of a tiger and added a grunge effect to it. The Chinese character for tiger is overlaid on the print. And just like with the other shirts, I left out 2010 so this shirt can be enjoyed any year without being dated. It’s great for people born in the year of the tiger!

The Chinese New Year begins on February 14, 2010, and although it is called Chinese New Year, the holiday is celebrated in many other Asian countries. Get ready for the celebrations and pick up the Year of the Tiger (Paw) T-Shirt today!

Update: This shirt is a re-release. The new version has a darker grunge texture and the Chinese character for tiger burned into it.

I’ve added another shirt to the Year of the Tiger line. I want to get as much out as possible before the Chinese New Year. For this t-shirt I focused on the teeth of the tiger and I made its fangs extra large, almost like those of a sabertooth tiger. The Chinese character for tiger is etched into one of its upper fangs. Again, I didn’t put “2010″ in the design so this shirt can be worn any time.

The Chinese New Year begins on February 14, 2010. Get ready for the celebrations and pick up the Year of the Tiger (Teeth) T-Shirt today!

Update: This shirt is a re-release. The new version has an outline of the tiger’s skull added around the teeth.

Just as promised I’m releasing a new t-shirt celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year, the year of the tiger. The design is a simple two-color print of the head of a tiger with the Chinese character for tiger inscribed on its forehead. I decided not to put the year as part of the design so this shirt can be worn any time, not just in 2010.

The Chinese New Year is actually the new year of the lunar calendar. It is without a doubt the single most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. Celebrations are marked by firecrackers, lion dances, gifts, and red envelopes, but most importantly, there is lots and lots of delicious Chinese food. Not only is it big in China and Taiwan, the lunar new year is celebrated in other Asian countries as well.

The Chinese New Year begins on February 14, 2010. Get ready for the celebrations and pick up the Year of the Tiger (Head) T-Shirt today!

Update: This shirt is a re-release. The new version has the Chinese character for tiger as part of the tiger’s stripes.

The final shirt in the Sinotology collection of Chinese t-shirts is the Aiya! T-Shirt. The design features the word “aiya” in script with its Chinese charaters above.

Aiya! is perhaps the most commonly used phrase in the Chinese language. Walk into any area heavily populated by Chinese people and you’ll no doubt hear it every minute. Aiya doesn’t mean anything. It is an exclamation of surprise, displeasure, or despair, and is used every time a Chinese person is in any bad situation, from trivial to severe. “Aiya! I forgot my keys.” “Aiya! They’re going to amputate my leg.” “Aiya! I didn’t buy this shirt.” Pick up the Aiya! T-Shirt today!