QIU 邱 -- A MOST UNUSUAL GLYPH

This afternoon I had a long conversation with a gentleman from Shanghai regarding pipes and tobacco. As well as many other things. What became evident is that McClelland and GLPease products are known over there, along with Esoterica Tobacciana et autres, and aficionados have also learned about Sasieni, Comoy, Dunhill, and diverse other desirable brandnames. It wouldn't surprise me if within a few years many of the best collectable briars disappear into mainland China, and some mighty fine collections result that will fill us with envy. Of course, with anti-smoking fervor reducing our numbers over here and in Europe, that is probably a good thing. Many of the great tobacconists are gone, and several famous names have been so debased or entirely whored-out by modern management and marketing departments that their pipes or tobaccos are, on the whole, not worth acquiring. But having a huge new market open up, and enthusiasm for pipes and fine tobacco blossoming in China, can only be good. Much as it may distress the tobacco-hating "health" puritans, this brings renewed life to our hobby.

The San Francisco Bay Area is ground zero for anti-tobacco fascism.
We are surrounded by disapproval and resentment.
Thank heavens China is fertile ground.

What was also apparent, and I am ashamed of this, is that the two main languages we had in common were spoken English and written Chinese, as logically he could not be expected to know Cantonese, and I have most regrettably neglected Mandarin. When we talked about food, we relied upon the characters for certain items. Bittermelon (苦瓜 'fu gwa', also called 涼瓜 ''leung gwa'), dioscorea opposita (淮山 'waai saan'), which he knows as 'shan yao' (山藥 'saan yeuk'), and others.

[Note: It is the season for moon cakes, so of course those were also discussed. One of the best places for locally made moon cakes is Eastern Bakery (東亞餅家 'tung aa bing gaa') at 720 Grant Avenue in San Francisco, on the corner of Commercial between Clay and Sacramento.]


邱 QIU

Which naturally brings me to the character for his surname ("just call me 'Q'"). Which is rather rare. Indeed, it does show up in the list of ancient name-characters, but given that ninety percent of the Chinese share about two dozen more common family names, and his isn't even in the top one hundred, you may readily grasp that while I recognized it, I could not remember how it is pronounced in Cantonese.

It wasn't until I got home that I remembered that back in the eighties and nineties one of the hottest actresses in Hong Kong had the same surname, and the correct pronunciation came back.
She was hot enough to make a man remember.
Chingmy Yau (邱淑貞 'yau suk jing').

Smoking? Oh Jesus yes.


Yau. Qiu in Mandarin.

A tumulus or mound, being the same as 丘 but with the addition of 阝(full form: 阜) on the right-hand side. That second character (阜 'fau'), which means hillock or sometimes outcropping often shows up in place names as well as ancient state names. By some authorities, both 邱 and 丘 are the same surname, the difference being a protective change when the simpler character became reserved for just one purpose: the given name of Confucius: 孔丘 ('hung yau') also known as Master Kung, 孔子 ('hung ji') and 孔夫子 ('hung fu ji').

Confucius lived two and a half millennia ago, whereas Chingmy Yau is alive today. Which one would I rather meet?
I'll leave you to guess.


The calligraphy at the top of this post is 邱 in seal-script. It reflects an older version of the mound which shows two people back to back (丠) on top of a small rise, like guardian figures or warriors facing a surrounding force.
Seal script is more curvilinear than chancellery style writing, but I think I've never-the-less captured the proportion and flow expected of a brushed character.

I probably need to practise more, though. A lot more. My strokes are stiff, and the brush does not feel natural.





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