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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Matt Alt, Pure Invention: How Japanβs Pop Culture Conquered the World, Crown Publishing, 2020. 384 pages. The subtitle of the book is enough to entice anyone browsing a bookstore…
![[REVIEW] βWeβre All Dreaming of Japan: Matt Altβs π»ππ€ π½ππππβπ πππ πΆπ’ππ‘π’ππ πΆππππ’ππππ π‘βπ πππππ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pure-invention.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Basil Pao (photographer), Carnival of Dreams, with an introduction by Pico Iyer, Hong Kong University Press, 2023. 208 pgs. Huge cubes float in the air, painted with different images on…
![[REVIEW] βDigital X-Acto: Basil Paoβs photography book πΆπππππ£ππ ππ π·πππππ β by Junnan Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/carnival-of-dreams_basil-pao-1.jpg?w=1024)
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing of Buji by Tang Yiu Lun ι§θιΊ.Β The English translation is edited with help from David Morgan. We got to know βOrangeβ first. βMummy, Big Brother Orange says he…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βOrange and Bujiβ BY JASMINE TONG](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/buji_watercolor_2023aug-1.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Lockdown Lovers. Michael OβSullivan, Lockdown Lovers, Penguin Random House SEA, 2021. 240 pgs. When Lockdown Lovers opens with βHong Kong FebruaryβMarch, 2020β, we expect a flashback…
![[REVIEW] “Michael OβSullivanβs πΏππππππ€π πΏππ£πππ : The Pandemic as Glocal” by Lucy Hamilton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/lockdown-lovers_michael-osullivan.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Cecil Mariani, Gaze, Grace, Grief, RUBANAH – Underground Hub, 2023. When my friend Tara and I walk into the RUBANAH Underground Hub on a humid afternoon in Jakarta, we find…
![[REVIEW] “πΊππ§π, πΊππππ, πΊππππ: Gallery in a State of Undress” by Julia Merican](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/grieving-path-series-2-the-yellow-kinesthesis.jpg?w=1024)
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TH: In this correspondence, Joshua Ip (from Singapore) asks Felix Chow (from Hong Kong) what Kongish (also known as Konglish) is, and Felix asks Joshua what Singlish is. This piece is an excerpt fromΒ State of Play: Poets of East &…
![[FEATURE] On Kongish and Singlish: A ConversationβJoshua Ip and Felix Chow](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/felix-chow-and-joshua-ip-cha.png?w=785)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Bright Fear. Mary Jean Chan, Bright Fear, Faber & Faber, 2023. 72 pgs. Mary Jean Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong. They now…
![[REVIEW] βThe Thing Itself, Not the Myth: Mary Jean Chanβs π΅πππβπ‘ πΉπππβ by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bright-fear-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Where Else. Jennifer Wong, Jason Eng Hun Lee, and Tim Tim Cheng (editors), Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology, Verve Poetry Press, 2023.…
![[REVIEW] βNot Just a Fusion of Leftover Cultures: A Review of πβπππ πΈππ πβ by Aerith Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/where-else_an-international-anthology-of-hong-kong-writing.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “An (Im)possible Document: A Review of Karen Cheung’s The Impossible City” by Luca Griseri ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ The Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin…
![[REVIEW] “An (Im)possible Document: A Review of Karen Cheung’s πβπ πΌππππ π ππππ πΆππ‘𦔠by Luca Griseri](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/the-impossible-city_karen-cheung-1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Seven Moons. Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Penguin India, 2022. Nearly the first impression you get in The Seven Moon of Maali…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Wait Till You See it With Ghosts: Shehan Karunatilaka’s πβπ πππ£ππ πππππ ππ πππππ π΄ππππππ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/the-seven-moons-of-maali-almeida_shehan-karunatilaka.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Petrus Liu, Queer Marxism in Two Chinas, Duke University Press, 2015. 256 pgs. Recent scholarship on the flows of desire and subject formation in China has seemingly operated with…
![[REVIEW] “A Work of Social Theory: Petrus Liuβs ππ’πππ ππππ₯ππ π ππ ππ€π πΆβππππ ” by Thiago Braga](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/queer-marxism-in-two-chinas-copy.jpg?w=600)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Indelible City. Louisa Lim, Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, Text Publishing Melbourne Australia, 2022. 306 pgs. βThere is no escape from the horror…
![[REVIEW] “A Song of Despair, of Burning Rage: Louisa Lim’s πΌππππππππ πΆππ‘𦔠by James Thompson](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/indelible-city-louisa-lim-1.jpg?w=1024)
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Click HERE to read Frances An’s Review of Eternal Summer of Homeland. Writingβlike learning a new language, like moving across continentsβis an adventure fraught with vulnerability. I began to write my first fiction collection, Eternal Summer of My Homeland, shortly…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βOn Writing, Language, and the Longing for Homeβ BY Agnes Chew](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/agnes-chew-1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Nightmare Japan. β Jinhee Choi and Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano (editors), Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema, Hong Kong University Press, 2009. 284 pgs.β Jay…
![[REVIEW] βThe Golden Age of Asian Horror Film: An Examination of π»πππππ π‘π π‘βπ πΈπ₯π‘ππππ and πππβπ‘ππππ π½ππππβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/horror.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart. Florentyna Leow, How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart, The Emma Press, 2023. 152 pgs. One of my most striking encounters with loneliness…
![[REVIEW] “Loneliness is Universal: Florentyna Leow’s π»ππ€ πΎπ¦ππ‘π π΅πππππ πππ’π π»ππππ‘” by Keziah Cho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/how-kyoto-breaks-your-heart-1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Bloom. Xi Chuan (author), Lucas Klein (translator), Bloom & Other Poems, New Directions. 2022. 204 pgs. Back in 1973, Harold Bloom imagined a literary landscape…
![[REVIEW] “A Genuine Fake? Xi Chuan’s π΅ππππ & ππ‘βππ πππππ ” by David Harrison Horton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/bloom-other-poems_lucas-klein_xi-chuan-1.png?w=972)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tang Wai-ki (director), Karen Chan Ka-yan and Sing Ip (translators and actors), Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, We Draman, San Po Kong, 2023. One thing about Hong Kong is…
![[REVIEW] “πΏπππππ πΏπππππ πΏπππππ πΏπππππ πΏπππππ Translated into Hongkongersβ Language: The Pain of Being Muted and a Slight Hope of Expressing Feelingβ by Dawna Fung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/tang-wai-ki-director-lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-1.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lucy Hamilton, The Widening of Tolo Highway: A Hong Kong Story of Paranoia and Protest, Penguin Random House SEA, 2022. 236 pgs. When, one-third into a novel, you still…
![[REVIEW] βHong Kong as Method: Lucy Hamiltonβs πβπ ππππππππ ππ ππππ π»ππβπ€ππ¦β by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-widening-of-the-tolo-highway-1.jpg?w=426)
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Preface: Γ la recherche du temps perdu by Leo Ou-Fan Lee Translated from the Chineseby Heidi Huang A memoir, as the word itself implies, is a personal walk down oneβs memory lane βin search of the lost timeβ against oblivion.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Preface to ππ¦ ππ€πππ‘πππ‘β πΆπππ‘π’ππ¦: π΄ ππππππ ππ πΏππ ππ’-πΉππ πΏππ](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/leo-ou-fan-lee_cha.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin Random House, 2022. 352 pgs. Karen Cheungβs memoir, The Impossible City, opens by…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mu Xin (author), Toming Jun Liu (translator), An Empty Room: Stories, New Directions, 2011. 192 pgs. Translated into English by Toming Jun Liu, An Empty Room by Mu Xin…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βLike the Meanderings of a River: Mu Xinβs π΄π πΈπππ‘π¦ π
πππβ by Yimin Huang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/an-empty-room-mu-xin-1.png?w=1024)
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“4AM, Fort Lee”, photo by Matt Turner In the Fall of 2022, there was a gas leak in the building I lived in in Brooklyn. ConEd Power came by to take a look, and by the time they left we…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “City Without Death: Poems” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/fort-lee_matt-turner_cha.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ The Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin Random House, 2022. 352 pgs. When I was younger, my friends would…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Gary Bettinson, The Sensuous Cinema of Wong Kar-wai: Film Poetics and the Aesthetic of Disturbance, 2014. 176 pgs. In the summer of 1994, I left a cinema in Tsim…
![[REVIEW] βGetting to the Heart of Wong Kar-wai: Gary Bettinsonβs πβπ ππππ π’ππ’π πΆπππππ ππ ππππ πΎππ-π€ππβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/29477id_021_0005_29477id_215.webp?w=800)
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing by the author. The English translation is edited with help from David Morgan. βWatching the sea, all my worries vanish! I really love the sea.β He says this…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Sailor on the Ferry” by Jasmine Tong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/jasmine-tong_cha-1.jpg?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Bloom. Xi Chuan (author), Lucas Klein (translator), Bloom & Other Poems, New Directions. 2022. 204 pgs. The bewitching voice that sears through this collection of…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tang Shu-wing (director), Bhagavad Gita, West Kowloon Cultural District, 2023. One of the most thought-provoking stage performances of the summer of 2023 is Tang Shu-wingβs Bhagavad Gita. Shown in…
![[REVIEW]βDetachment in the Cycle of Kali Yuga: A Review of Tang Shu-wingβs π΅βππππ£ππ πΊππ‘πβ by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/bhagavad-gita-1.jpg?w=1024)
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Click HERE to read an essay by Agnes Chew and an excerpt from Eternal Summer of Homeland. πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Agnes Chew, Eternal Summer of My Homeland, Epigram Books, 2023. 184 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] βStragglers in Singapore: Agnes Chewβs πΈπ‘πππππ ππ’ππππ ππ ππ¦ π»πππππππβ by Frances An](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/eternal-summer-of-my-homeland.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mamoru Hosada (director), Wolf Children, 2012. 117 min. A story about a single mother trying to bring up two half-Japanese children on her own might naturally be of interest…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βππππ πΆβππππππ as a Statement on Parenthood and Modern Japanβ by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/wolf-children.jpg?w=1020)
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. What do feminisms mean to you? Whose feminisms? Do Chinese interpretations of feminisms accord with or contradict your own views? Perhaps you have not thought of these questions, especially the last one. This special collaboration between editors of Feminisms…
![[FEATURE] Feminisms with Chinese Characteristics: A πΆβπ Symposium](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/screenshot-2023-07-18-at-12.03.52-1.png?w=1024)
Cha 