畫龍點睛: Here Be Dragons
Introducing QQ Dragon, plus pineapple cakes and a Lunar New Year tea party
This is Yun Hai Taiwan Stories, a newsletter about Taiwanese food and culture by Lisa Cheng Smith 鄭衍莉, founder of Yun Hai. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, sign up here.
On Saturday, February 10th, the Year of the Dragon begins. I recognize that this might be the only time in the next 12 years I get to write about dragons, so I’m not holding back on references to this magical creature—the spirit incarnate.
I’m also so excited to launch QQ Dragon, our Lunar New Year QQ QT of 2024. I’ll admit, this one was a tough one. I share several early attempts at drawing this dragon (which I think all deserve a sticker pack of their own) and have come to see so much in the one we finally made.
Scroll to the end for a quick list of everything we’ve got going for Lunar New Year. Don’t miss our limited-time pineapple cake drop with Win Son Bakery or our Taiwanese tea and fruit tasting this Saturday, where we’ll also be offering 10% off in store.
Dotting the eyes on the dragon 畫龍點睛 is a four-character Chinese idiom that translates roughly to “the finishing touch." It carries the additional suggestion of "the crucial stroke”— the final mark applied in just the right way, in the right place, to bring an entire work to life.
The etymology published in the Taiwan Ministry of Education Dictionary of Chinese Idioms cites Records of Famous Paintings Through the Dynasties 歷代名畫, written by Zhang Yan Yuan 張彥遠, a Tang dynasty art historian. Zhang relays a story of the 5th century Chinese painter Zhang Seng You 張僧繇, who painted four dragons on the walls of a temple. He left off the eyes, convinced the creatures would animate if he added them. When, at the insistence of the artist's patrons, the eyes were finally placed, the thunder did sound, the lightning did strike, and the dragons flew off the wall and into the sky.
To me, this tale is about caution as much as it is about mastery. Though his patrons disagreed, Zhang insisted on leaving the works incomplete. Dragon energy is just too big.
I share Zhang’s trepidation. The Year of the Dragon is nearly upon us, and instead of setting off fireworks, I’m sweeping the floor before the new year begins. Out with the old to make space for the blustery new. It’s a hopeful feeling—a desire to be ready to accept the gifts of this universe. To be light enough to fly up with the dragon when the eyes are finally dotted.
Daoist themes pervade the works of science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin. In the introduction to her English-language rendition of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Le Guin writes:
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching is the most lovable of all the great religious texts. Funny, keen, kind, modest, indestructibly outrageous, and inexhaustibly refreshing. Of all the deep springs, this is the purest water. To me, it is also the deepest spring.
Her book is not exactly a translation, but more a rendition in a modern voice. A cast that gives the text a folksy, relatable tenor, without sacrificing its simplicity and intangibility. Here’s an excerpt:
9 Being Quiet
Brim-fill the bowl,
it’ll spill over.
Keep sharpening the blade,
you’ll soon blunt it.
Nobody can protect
a house full of gold and jade.
Wealth, status, pride,
are their own ruin.
To do good, work well, and lie low
is the way of the blessing.
I’ve always appreciated Le Guin’s treatment of dragons in her books, so clearly influenced by Asian philosophy and symbolism. In her Earthsea series (minor spoiler alert), dragons are the origins of humans. Dragons and humans were one kind, once. The former is still free on the wind, unbound by the desire to affect or be effected. Humans, on the other hand, chose earth and mortality, in exchange for the power to build, to change, and to know the names of things.
I’ll always be the settling kind, but perhaps the chaotic and free nature of the dragon will lead us through the fray this year, to a wild place of unsparing big-heartedness, to a deep and pure spring.
And with that, the thunder sounds, the lightning strikes, and QQ Dragon flies off this page and onto a new t-shirt.
Introducing QQ Dragon
Every Lunar New Year, we introduce a new Yun Hai mascot, our interpretation of the ruling zodiac sign. We always use Qs for eyes, referencing “QQ” a Taiwanese word that describes food with a chewy or bouncy texture, like the perfect bawan 肉圓.
Meet QQ Dragon, the new face of Yun Hai.
This dragon beckons us into the future unknown. Fiery eyebrows and an unruly mane are blown about as it navigates turbulence like a serpent in sand. Silhouetted against the moon—half in shadow, half in light—it shines like a beacon of all that’s true, unembarrassed to lead the way forward, but occasionally obscured in cloud. Dragon gazes back at us as if from a mirror, reflecting our true nature. The Chinese character for king, 王, ornaments its forehead, a designation of the domain of the spirit. Ferocious in its happiness and unbounded in its largesse, QQ dragon calls us forward.
We’ve put QQ Dragon on short sleeve t-shirts for kids and adults, and have also made a weatherproof sticker suitable for bikes, water bottles, laptops, automobiles, skateboards, and all manner of personal infrastructure.
The tees are 100% cotton, mid-weight, and garment-dyed, with a ribbed high collar and a relaxed but still true-to-size fit. The adult tees are a medium brown with the powdery look of a vintage fantasy t-shirt. The kids tees are a grayish sage color, like the misty sky.
Tees are silkscreened by Works in Progress in New York City. Art by yours truly, with lots of help from Christopher Roeleveld, master of the halftone. The stickers come in a set of two, packaged with a backer card.
Drawing QQ Dragon
Traditionally, Chinese dragons are made up of many animal parts: the eagle’s talons, the lion’s paw, the camel’s head, the deer’s antlers, the clam’s belly, the serpent’s neck. No single feature defines the dragon; the dragon defines them all in one harmonious stroke. And then you dot the eyes. Except, this time, the eyes are Qs.
QQ Dragon was inspired by all the dragons I’ve ever loved: the feral grace of Hayao Miyazaki’s Haku from Spirited Away; the playful wink of Falkor from the Neverending Story; the funny faces of the carousing dragons at Wen Wu Temple in Sun Moon Lake; and the twisting, open-mouthed forms of temple roof dragons all throughout Taiwan.
Just for fun, here’s some of the process. It took almost 40 pages to dial in the final aspect of our QQ creature.
This was a good exercise for me. In some ways, chasing the form of the dragon reset my mentality for the year. To find QQ, I had to be open to imperfect variations, surrendering to the physicality of drawing without pre-judgement or even, sometimes, a plan. Just putting the eyes down and seeing what personality emerged. An exercise in flow, iteration, and uncertainy.
Other Lunar New Year Happenings at Yun Hai
We’re doing a few other things at Yun Hai that you shouldn’t miss.
Win Son Bakery X Yun Hai Year of the Dragon Pineapple Cakes
If you’re in NYC, don’t miss our Pineapple Cakes, a seasonal collaboration with Win Son Bakery, based on a recipe by our friend Cat Yeh. It you haven’t had them, they’re a traditional Taiwanese pastry made with a shortbread crust and a pineapple jam filling. Pineapples represent good luck and prosperity in Taiwan, so they’re a favorite treat this time of year. Available through 2/25; reserve your box here.
Year of the Dragon Red Envelopes by O.OO x Yun Hai
We also partnered up with O.OO, our long time creative collaborators in Taiwan, to produce a short run of Year of the Dragon red envelopes. These are inspired by traditional brush stroke calligraphy (as shown way up top), where the dragon is a mythical beast, a calligraphic stroke, and a cloud of mist all at once. Designed and printed in Taiwan using soy inks and a risograph printer.
We’re giving a set of three away with every order over $50, online and in store, while supplies last.
Year of the Dragon Tea and Fruit Tasting with BANGtea
And, we’re hosting a fruit and oolong tea tasting at our Taiwanese General Store 雲海嚴選柑仔店 in Williamsburg, with Taiwanese tea purveyor BANGtea. We’ll be brewing cups of oolong tea and serving samples of pineapple cakes, dried fruit, and oolong tea eggs out of our resident Tatung steamer.
Stop by this Saturday, 2/10 from 1-4 pm, for all these treats and an extra 10% off anything in the shop, and meet QQ Dragon in person.
Fruit and Tea at @yunhaishop with @bangteacompany
Sat, Feb 10, 1-4 pm
Yun Hai Shop, 170 Montrose Ave, Brooklyn
Tatung Enamel Pins
In case you missed, we also launched a small run of these Tatung pins from Lai Hao, our favorite souvenir shop in Taipei. Available in red (ok, pink) and green (ok, mint). They’re about the size of a nickel and cannot be used to make rice.
MADE IN ASIA: An All-Asian Drag Festival
Finally, don’t miss the East Coast’s first ever Asian drag festival, Made In Asia, happening on Lunar New Year at 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn! The event will feature headliner Nymphia Wind, an internationally acclaimed Taiwanese drag artist who’s currently competing in Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, alongside 20+ local AAPI drag artists. Full line-up here.
MADE IN ASIA: An All-Asian Drag Festival
Sat, Feb 10, 10 pm
3 Dollar Bill, 260 Meserole Street, Brooklyn
And with that, 新年快樂! May the coming year be a momentous one.
Funny, keen, kind, modest, indestructibly outrageous, and inexhaustibly refreshing,
Lisa Cheng Smith 鄭衍莉
Written with support by Amalissa Uytingco and Lillian Lin. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with friends and subscribe if you haven’t already. I email once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. For more Taiwanese food, head to yunhai.shop, follow us on instagram and twitter, or view the newsletter archives.