Author: t
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[ESSAY] “Just an Ordinary Photograph: Images of the Japanese Occupation in Singapore and Sumatra” by Nathan Chong Once you know what to look for, and where to look, pieces begin to fall into place. What do you see in this…
![[ESSAY] “Just an Ordinary Photograph: Images of the Japanese Occupation in Singapore and Sumatra” by Nathan Chong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/nathan-chong-cha-1.jpg)
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[FICTION] “Take Me to Hong Kong” by Kim Christine Editor’s note: This flash story is inspired by Charles Aznavour’s “Emmenez-Moi”. We suggest listening to the song while reading the piece. A YouTube link is provided at the end of the…
![[FICTION] “Take Me to Hong Kong” by Kim Christine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/take-me-to-hong-kong-by-kim-christine-cha.png)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Queering the Continent: The Many Lives of Queer Asia” by Farid Hamka J. Daniel Luther and Jennifer Ung Loh (editors), ‘Queer’ Asia: Decolonising and Reimagining Sexuality and Gender, Zed Books, 2019.…
![[REVIEW] “Queering the Continent: The Many Lives of Queer Asia” by Farid Hamka](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/queer-asia-decolonising-and-reimagining-sexuality-and-gender.png)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Mommy Makes the World Go Round: The Boy and the Heron v. When Marnie Was There” by William Carlo Antonio Sanchez Click here to read all entries in Chaon The Boy and…
![[REVIEW] “Mommy Makes the World Go Round: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛 v. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑠 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒” by William Carlo Antonio Sanchez](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/the-boy-and-the-heron-v.-when-marnie-was-there-by-william-carlo-antonio-sanchez.png)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Reading María Teresa Ogliastri’s From the Diary of Madame Mao: Poetry, Politics and Memories of the Cultural Revolution” by Ming Wan All entries in Cha on Madame Mao. María Teresa…
![[ESSAY] “Reading María Teresa Ogliastri’s 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑜: Poetry, Politics and Memories of the Cultural Revolution” by Ming Wan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/from-the-diary-of-madame-mao.jpg)
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[ESSAY] “Between Singapore and Yogyakarta: A City to Visit, A City to Live In” by Dhinie A Ryhilda I don’t remember exactly which MRT station I got off at that day in Singapore. I only remember deciding to stop somewhere…
![[ESSAY] “Between Singapore and Yogyakarta: A City to Visit, A City to Live In” by Dhinie A Ryhilda](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/yogyakarta-market.jpg)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Joanne Leow’s Exhumations: The Body as Counter-Archive in Singapore” by Aleithia Low Joanne Leow. Exhumations: Inside the Body of a Petrostate. Alchemy by Knopf Canada, 2026. 216 pgs. “When is a…
![[REVIEW] “Joanne Leow’s 𝐸𝑥ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠: The Body as Counter-Archive in Singapore” by Aleithia Low](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/joanne-leow.-exhumations-inside-the-body-of-a-petrostate.png)
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[ESSAY] “Hong Kong: A Lover’s Meditation” by Jeff Beyl Photo © Jeff Beyl Hong Kong Works To paraphrase travel writer Jan Morris, Hong Kong works. Someone asked me, many years ago, after my first trip to Hong Kong, “What’s it like…
![[ESSAY] “Hong Kong: A Lover’s Meditation” by Jeff Beyl](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/jeff-beyl-dai-pai-dong.jpeg.png)
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[CONVERSATION] “Challenging the Patriarchy with Poetry and Prose” by Sadie Kaye and Shikha S. Lamba The Weight of Silence by Zuhra Nadem Sadie Kaye’s introduction: Some interviews begin with a résumé. This one began with a single sentence that clicked…
![[CONVERSATION] “Challenging the Patriarchy with Poetry and Prose” by Sadie Kaye and Shikha S. Lamba](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/shikha-s.-lamba.jpg)
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[CONVERSATION] “Mapping Loss in a Crowded City” by Sadie Kaye and Holly Sykes Holly Sykes at home in Hong Kong Sadie Kaye’s introduction: What happens when a self-proclaimed “shy, bookish person” swaps the muddy, rolling hills of northwest England for…
![[CONVERSATION] “Mapping Loss in a Crowded City” by Sadie Kaye and Holly Sykes](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/conversation-sadie-kaye-and-holly-sykes-mapping-loss-in-a-crowded-city.jpg)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Hong Kong, Cantopop and the Memory of Home: Emma-Lee Moss’s My Cantopop Nights” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon My Cantopop Nights. Emma-Lee Moss. My Cantopop…
![[REVIEW] “Hong Kong, Cantopop and the Memory of Home: Emma-Lee Moss’s 𝑀𝑦 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑝 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/emma-lee-moss.-my-cantopop-nights-a-memoir-in-songs.png)
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[ESSAY] “The Apocalypse Before Dinner: What Japanese Robots Taught Italian Children” by Gabriele Micozzi For Italian children of my generation, Japanese animation did not arrive as a coherent archive. I am on the left, with my younger brother Fabrizio, both…
![[ESSAY] “The Apocalypse Before Dinner: What Japanese Robots Taught Italian Children” by Gabriele Micozzi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/atlas-ufo-robot.png)
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[INCIDENTAL] “The Kitchen Rosé Chose” by Julie Choi Rosé and her kittens By the time Rosé chose the kitchen, it no longer belonged to a household. The home stood in Bogwang-dong, in a part of Seoul being emptied for redevelopment.…
![[INCIDENTAL] “The Kitchen Rosé Chose” by Julie Choi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/rose-and-her-kittens-2a.png)
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[ESSAY] “There Is Never Anything So Difficult That It Cannot Be Resolved: Translating the Ma Yongzhen and Ma Suzhen Novels of Qi Fanniu and Zhu Dagong” by Paul Bevan 🌻Paul Bevan (translator). Murder in the Maloo: A Tale of Old…
![[ESSAY] “There Is Never Anything So Difficult That It Cannot Be Resolved: Translating the Ma Yongzhen and Ma Suzhen Novels of Qi Fanniu and Zhu Dagong” by Paul Bevan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/murder-in-the-maloo-a-tale-of-old-shanghai.png)
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[FEATURE] Four Chapters from Murder in the Maloo: A Tale of Old Shanghai, Translated by Paul Bevan Paul Bevan (translator). Murder in the Maloo: A Tale of Old Shanghai, Earnshaw Books, 2024. 226 pgs. Editor’s note: Readers interested in the background…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Picked Up by Wingtips: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s Hula Hooping” by Jonathan Han Tammy Lai-Ming Ho. Hula Hooping, Chameleon Press, 2015. 108 pgs. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho at the launch of Hula…
![[REVIEW] “Picked Up by Wingtips: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s 𝐻𝑢𝑙𝑎 𝐻𝑜𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hh1.jpg)
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[ESSAY] “Dead Cat Bounce: The Graphic Novel Boom in Singapore That Wasn’t” by Felix Cheong I became a graphic novelist by accident. Or perhaps by the necessity of reinvention. Whichever is the more charitable view, it was probably as good a…
![[ESSAY] “Dead Cat Bounce: The Graphic Novel Boom in Singapore That Wasn’t” by Felix Cheong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/oddballs-screwballs-and-other-eccentrics-and-in-the-year-of-the-virus-1.png)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Beyond the Activist: Discovering the Man Behind Katski Flores’s Edjop” by Bryan Elijah Trajano Katski Flores (director). Edjop, 2026. 122 min. Martial Law remains one of the darkest chapters in Philippine…
![[REVIEW] “Beyond the Activist: Discovering the Man Behind Katski Flores’s 𝐸𝑑𝑗𝑜𝑝” by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ering-the-man-behind-katski-floress-edjop-1.jpeg)
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[ESSAY] “Between Two Names” by Wayne Mok “Wayne could be a Vietnamese name too.” I clutched my copy of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer and waited while he chatted with the couple ahead. It was my first time attending a book…
![[ESSAY] “Between Two Names” by Wayne Mok](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/wayne-mok-cha.jpg)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Up Close, A Portrait” by Jose P. Mojica The face serves as the most recognisable feature of an individual. It captures one’s expressions and character, revealing a persona even without…
![[REVIEW] “Up Close, A Portrait” by Jose P. Mojica](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/https-blanc.phexhibitsgallery-3a-patch-a-portrait.jpg)
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We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Rebekah Chan as an Associate Editor of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. In this role, Rebekah will work primarily on curating an ongoing section devoted to writing emerging from the intersection of…
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[ESSAY] “One Poet, Two Translators: Preserving the Essence of Voice” by Yvette Neisser All entries in Cha on Madame Mao. María Teresa Ogliastri (author), Yvette Neisser and Patricia Bejarano Fisher (translators). From the Diary of Madame Mao. Carnegie Mellon University…
![[ESSAY] “One Poet, Two Translators: Preserving the Essence of Voice” by Yvette Neisser](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/yvette-neisser-and-patricia-bejarano-fisher.png)
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[FICTION] “Dream Chairs” by Jennifer Eagleton Jennifer Eagleton on her story: I originally wrote the poem “Dream Chairs” after attending The Travellers and The Listeners, by Hong Kong artist Samson Young and his collaborators, at Freespace in the West Kowloon Cultural…
![[FICTION] “Dream Chairs” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/jennifer-anne-eagleton-cha-.png)
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[FICTION] “A Jar of Tears” by Anh Thu Tran Anh Thu Tran on her story: “A Jar of Tears” is a work of fiction inspired by the heartbreaking realities and poignant stories of my paternal grandmother, who lived in Sa…
![[FICTION] “A Jar of Tears” by Anh Thu Tran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/anh-thu-tran-cha.png)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Witness and Knowledge: Reading Victoria Chang’s Trees” by Anna Nguyen Also read Anna Nguyen’s reivew ofIldikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend 🌻 Victoria Chang. The Trees Witness Everything, Copper Canyon Press, 2022. 125…
![[REVIEW] “Witness and Knowledge: Reading Victoria Chang’s Trees” by Anna Nguyen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/victoria-chang-cha.png)
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[ESSAY] “One Child, Three Lives” by Lina Ma HeyTea, High Salaries, and Family Money A HeyTea store in New York Inside a rooftop lounge in Manhattan, Scarlette sits in a cute pink T-shirt and wire-rimmed glasses, a cup of HeyTea’s…
![[ESSAY] “One Child, Three Lives” by Lina Ma](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/gettyimages-524755818.jpg)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “What’s Queer about Hong Kong Comics?” by Ronny Chan What’s queer about comics? I’ve been grappling with this question ever since I took a stab at crafting my first queer…
![[ESSAY] “What’s Queer about Hong Kong Comics?” by Ronny Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/combsisters_008.jpg)
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[FICTION] “Matricide on the Morning Bus” by Maureen Tai Maureen Tai on her story: There is always a kernel of truth in everything I write. In “Matricide on the Morning Bus”, there are many kernels, mostly drawn from having lived…
![[FICTION] “Matricide on the Morning Bus” by Maureen Tai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/maureen-tai-cha.png)
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[FICTION] “Consumption” by Sam Powney Photograph © Oliver Farry It was only when her gym closed down that Apple sensed things may have gone too far. She arrived one day to find, in typical Hong Kong fashion, that her gym…
![[FICTION] “Consumption” by Sam Powney](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/sam-powney.png)
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[FICTION] “Encroachment” by Hazel Shu Chen Hazel Shu Chen on her story: “Encroachment” is my very first attempt at fiction writing in an adopted language, English. The story is about a female expatriate’s life in Hong Kong, her choices, and…
![[FICTION] “Encroachment” by Hazel Shu Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hazel-shu-chen-cha.png)