Category: 2022 Entries
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Dung Kai-cheung (author), Bonnie S. McDougall and Anders Hansson (translators), A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On, Columbia University Press, 2022. 218 pgs. First published in…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βAesthetics of Obsolescence: Dung Kai-cheungβs π΄ πΆππ‘ππππ ππ ππ’πβ ππ‘π’ππ ππ π·πππππ π΄ππ ππππ ππ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/a-catalog-of-such-stuff-as-dreams-are-made-on_cha-banner.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / FEBRUARY 2010 (ISSUE 10) OTHER EDITORIALS There are two conflicting images of train travel. The first is of a train journey as romance, an unhurried and meandering trip through exotic landsβa luxurious ride eastward on the Orient Express,…
![[ARCHIVE] “Thoughts of Trains; Trains of Thought” by Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cha-an-asian-literary-journal-issue-10.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / NOVEMBER 2009 (ISSUE 9) OTHER EDITORIALS Anniversaries are, of course, a traditional time to take stock, find your bearings, make predictions about future directions. On the occasion of our second anniversary issue, I felt this would be a…
![[ARCHIVE] “Better Housekeeping” by Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cha-an-asian-literary-journal-issue-9.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / AUGUST 2009 (ISSUE 8) OTHER EDITORIALS The current issue of Cha features a review of Todd Swift’s latest poetry collection, Seaway: New and Selected Poetry. One of the poems in the book, “Kanada Post”, offers this meditation on the expatriate experience. I remember…
![[ARCHIVE] “Some Other Life” by Jeff Zroback, Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, Eddie Tay, and Royston Tester](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/issue8-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / MAY 2009 (ISSUE 7) OTHER EDITORIALS Normally, the process for choosing a cover image for an upcoming issue of Cha is quite straightforward, and my co-editor and I come to a consensus without much trouble. This time, however, the selection proved more…
![[ARCHIVE] “Under the Moon, Under the Rain-Hat” by Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cha-an-asian-literary-journal-issue-7.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / FEBRUARY 2009 (ISSUE 6) OTHER EDITORIALS For a few days following the incident at Cambridge University in which a young German protestor threw a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa, the small thread of the web that originates…
![[ARCHIVE] “The Year of the Shoe” by Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cha-an-asian-literary-journal-issue-6.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / NOVEMBER 2008 (ISSUE 5) OTHER EDITORIALS Recently my Hong Kong-born co-editor has developed a series of strange new habits, or, perhaps more accurately, several symptoms of the same habit. Her new quirks include buying instant noodles in bulk,…
![[ARCHIVE] “Time and Distance” by Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/issue5.png?w=1024)
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EDITORIAL / AUGUST 2008 (ISSUE 4) OTHER EDITORIALS [See contributors’ photographs taken when they were young here.] The cover of this issue features two family photos, one taken in Hong Kong, one in mainland China. There is a striking formality…
![[ARCHIVE] “The Family Album” by Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cha-an-asian-literary-journal-issue-4.png?w=1024)
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Editorial / May 2008 (Issue 3) OTHER EDITORIALS In the first major treatise on the subject of tea Chajing (The Classic of Tea) (8th century), Lu Yu categorized the different varieties of the drink by name: When tea has a sweet flavour, it…
![[ARCHIVE] “πΆβπ: Some Thoughts on a Name” by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho and Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cha-an-asian-literary-journal-issue-3.png?w=1024)
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Editorial / November 2007 (Issue 1) OTHER EDITORIALS Why start an internet journal? Why add another voice to the cluttered and overexposed world of creative writing online? We believe that these are questions that must be considered by anyone who…
![[ARCHIVE] “Why Start an Online Journal?” by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho and Jeff Zroback](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/screenshot-2022-11-23-at-12.55.09.png?w=1024)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Strange Beasts. Yan Ge (author) and Jeremy Tiang (translator), Strange Beasts of China, Tilted Axis Press, 2020. 314 pgs. My previous Cha review of a Chinese…
![[REVIEW] βππ‘πππππ π΅πππ π‘π ππ πΆβπππ: Harnessing πβπππ’ππ and Magic Realism to Satirise Otheringβ by Cyril Camus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/strangebeastsofchinav3ccorrected_v3c-copy.jpg?w=668)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Philip Bowring. The Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a Jigsaw State, Bloomsbury, 2022. 272 pgs. The thing with a jigsaw puzzle is it is a mental pursuit of completion; that somebody shuffles…
![[REVIEW] βSifting Through The Rubble: Reading Philip Bowringβs πβπ ππππππ ππ ππππππ πβπππππππππ β by Jose Santos P. Ardivilla](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/the-making-of-the-modern-philippines-1.jpeg?w=568)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] Being Born, Getting Old, Falling Sick, and Dyingby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong KongβWednesday 26 August 2020 }}} Twenty-four Covid new cases confirmed today in Hong Kong. The aircon…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Being Born, Getting Old, Falling Sick, and Dying” (Wednesday 26 August 2020) by Chris Song, Translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hong-kong-2020-1.jpeg?w=720)
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A Son of Hanoi . Kenneth on “A Son of Hanoi”: It is worth considering the idea of the 1.5 generation and how a few years of schooling in an imperialist country can be so strongly internalised. What does it…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Son of Hanoi” and “TαΊ₯m and the Peasant Farmer” by Kenneth Tanemura](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hanoi.png?w=1024)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] Workers’ Expression of Romanceby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong KongβMonday 24 August 2020 }}} Today there were nine confirmed Covid cases in Hong Kong. Itβs the first time in…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βWorkers’ Expression of Romanceβ (Monday 24 August 2020) by Chris Song, translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/star-street_wing-fung-street.png?w=1024)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] Every Lovely Little Thingby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong KongβTuesday 25 August 2020 }}} Nineteen confirmed Covid cases today in Hong Kong. The lunchtime news reported that pandemic measures…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βEvery Lovely Little Thingβ (Tuesday 25 August 2020) by Chris Song, translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/k-town_oliver-farry-1.png?w=958)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] That Moment Balances Fiction and Realityby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong KongβFriday 28 August 2020 }}} Twenty-one confirmed Covid cases in Hong Kong today. Last night the rain was unforgiving.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βThat Moment Balances Fiction and Realityβ (Friday 28 August 2020) by Chris Song, translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hong-kong_28-august-2020_chris-song-1.jpg?w=960)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Against the backdrop of ongoing wars and climate crisis, I found myself reading Daryl Lim Wei Jieβs Anything but Human, Gwee Li Suiβs This Floating World, and Heng Siok Tianβs Grandmaβs Attic,…
![[REVIEW] βToying With Lost Time: A Review of Three Poetry Collections from Landmark Booksβ by Cheng Tim Tim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/landmark-books.png?w=1024)
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Photographs of jellyfish are by the author.Β Β Of course we donβt keep recordsβwhy would we?βbut my understanding is that we have been around for at least 500 million years, and maybe 700 million. I donβt believe there are any other…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Jellyfish Explains Life” by David Clarke](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/jellyfish-in-an-aquarium-boston16-may-2017originalsize-1.jpg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Karen Ma. Chinaβs Millennial Digital Generation: Conversations with Balinghou (Post-1980s) Indie Filmmakers, Long River Press, 2022. 260 pgs. On 2 January 1997, I boarded a plane in Shanghai heading to Chicago. The…
![[REVIEW] “Giving a Voice to Those With None: Karen Ma’s πΆβπππ’π ππππππππππ π·ππππ‘ππ πΊππππππ‘πππ” by X. H. Collins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/chinas-millennial-digital-generation-conversations-with-balinghou-post-1980s-indie-filmmakers-1.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Choi Jin-young (author), Soje (translator). To the Warm Horizon, Honford Star, 2021. 172 pgs. Originally published in 2017, To the Warm Horizon is perhaps best seen as a curious example of a…
![[REVIEW] βWeirdness Unfulfilled: Choi Jin-youngβs ππ π‘βπ ππππ π»ππππ§ππβ by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/warm-horizon.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Wesley Leon Aroozoo. The Punkhawala and the Prostitute, Epigram, 2021. 352 pgs. A finalist of Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2021, Wesley Leon Aroozooβs The Punkhawala and the Prostitute tells the tale of…
![[REVIEW] “Quintessential Singlit? Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s πβπ ππ’ππβππ€πππ πππ π‘βπ ππππ π‘ππ‘π’π‘πβ by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/wesley-leon-aroozoos-the-punkhawala-and-the-prostitute.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Nabina Das (translator), Alam Khorshed (curator), Arise out of the Lock: 50 Bangladeshi Women Poets in English, Balestier Press, 2022. 176 pgs. Arise Out of the Lock is a poetry collection by…
![[REVIEW] βπ΄πππ π ππ’π‘ ππ π‘βπ πΏπππ: On Resistance, Connection, and Enchantmentβ by Sharyn Phu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/arise-out-of-the-lock.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Maghiel van Crevel and Lucas Klein, eds., Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs, Amsterdam University Press, 2019. 356 pgs. In a previous article about how late 20th/early 21st-century British and American…
![[REVIEW] “πΆβππππ π ππππ‘ππ¦ πππ πππππ πππ‘πππ: A Multi-Angled Overview of What Happens When Worlds Collideβ by Cyril Camus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/chinese-poetry-and-translation-lucas-klein-.png?w=1024)
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Reflections on “Q & A” E. Ethelbert Miller: The title is actually what occurs in the poem. Often Miho and I will exchange lines and stanzas as we construct our poems. In this poem I felt it was more like…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Q & A” by Miho Kinnas and E. Ethelbert Miller](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/frederick-j.-brown.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Perhat Tursun (author), Darren Byler and Anonymous (translators), The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang, Columbia University Press, 2022. 168 pgs. A man leaves an office in ΓrΓΌmqi, and starts walking. The sun…
![[REVIEW] “A Psychoanalytical Auto-fictional Biography of a City: Perhat Tursun’s πβπ π΅ππππ π‘ππππ‘π ” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/the-backstreets-perhat-tursun.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 Indelible City. Louisa Lim, Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, Text Publishing Melbourne Australia, 2022. 306 pgs. Louisa Limβs 2022 book Indelible City:…
![[REVIEW] “Beyond Birth, Blood, and Soil: Reading Louisa Limβs πΌππππππππ πΆππ‘𦔠by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/indelible-city-louisa-lim-1.jpg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Monika Gaenssbauer and Nicholas Olczak (editors). Of Forests and Humans: Hong Kong Contemporary Short Fiction. Edition Cathay, vol. 74, Bochum, Projekt Verlag, 2019. 126 pgs. In Of Forests and Humans, Monika Gaenssbauer…
![[REVIEW] βStories Grow in Hong Kong: A Review of ππ πΉππππ π‘π πππ π»π’ππππ β by Astrid MΓΈller-Olsen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/of-forests-and-humans-1.jpg?w=519)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Phoebe Tsang, Setting Fire to Water. Thistledown Press, 2022. 220 pgs. Phoebe Tsangβs short story collection Setting Fire to Water is a delightful debut that transforms seemingly prosaic lives and events into…
![[REVIEW] “Dream-like Reality: Phoebe Tsang’s πππ‘π‘πππ πΉπππ π‘π πππ‘ππ” by Aerith Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/fire-to-water_phoebe-tsang.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Koral Dasgupta, Ahalya, Pan Macmillan, 2020. 204 pgs. Koral Dasgupta, Kunti, Pan Macmillan, 2021. 203 pgs. In the preface to her 1919 anthology Short Stories, Mrs (Srimati Swarna Kumari Devi) Ghosal wrote,…
![[REVIEW] “The Women Behind the Hindu Myths: Koral Dasgupta’s π΄βπππ¦π and πΎπ’ππ‘π” by Sharyn Phu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/koral-dasgupta-1.png?w=1024)
Cha 