Category: 2023 Entries
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere. Jennifer Wong, Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere in Contemporary Chinese Diaspora Poetry, Bloomsbury, 2023. Jennifer…
![[REVIEW] βA Historical Document: Jennifer Wongβs πΌππππ‘ππ‘π¦, π»πππ πππ ππππ‘πππ πΈππ ππ€βπππ ππ πΆπππ‘ππππππππ¦ πΆβππππ π π·πππ ππππ ππππ‘ππ¦β by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/jennifer-wong-cha-identity-home-and-writing-elsewhere.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Brian Sze-hang Kwok, Fading Neon Lights: An Archive of Hong Kongβs Visual Culture, City University of Hong Kong Press, 2023. 202 pgs. Brian Sze-hang Kwok may not know the…
![[REVIEW] βPangs of Things That Have PassedβBrian Sze-hang Kwok’s πΉπππππ ππππ πΏππβπ‘π : π΄π π΄ππβππ£π ππ π»πππ πΎπππβπ πππ π’ππ πΆπ’ππ‘π’ππβ by Lian-Hee Wee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/29.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors, Canongate, 2023. 320 pgs. Third novels can be tricky. The second has to prove the first was not a fluke. Something more…
![[REVIEW] βSome Private Morsel of Your Own: Tan Twan Engβs πβπ π»ππ’π π ππ π·ππππ β by Douglas Kerr](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-house-of-doors-1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ozawa Minoru (author), Janine Beichman (translator), Well-Versed: Exploring Modern Japanese Haiku, with photography by Maeda ShinzΕ and Akira, Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2021. 375 pgs. Haiku has…
![[REVIEW] βBeautifully ProducedβOzawa Minoruβs ππππ-ππππ ππ: πΈπ₯πππππππ ππππππ π½ππππππ π π»ππππ’β by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/well-versed.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 Chungking Express. Wong Kar-wai (director), Chungking Express, 1994. 92 min. Whenever I think of Wong Kar-waiβs Chungking Express I hear California Dreaminβ by The Mamas…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βTwo Stories in One: Wong Kar-waiβs πΆβπ’ππππππ πΈπ₯ππππ π β by e rathke](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/chungking-express.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Chan Tze-Woon (director), Blue Island, 2022. 97 min. A history student, I linger in the Hong Kong Museum of Historyβs condensed Hong Kong Story exhibition: one room per millennium,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Hong Kong History in Chan Tze-Woonβs π΅ππ’π πΌπ ππππβ by Michelle Suen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/blue-island.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Andrew Field, Rocking China: Rock Music Scenes in Beijing, Shanghai & Beyond, Earnshaw Books, 2023. 212 pgs. You can listen to the Rocking China playlist HERE. I went to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βBeijing Bubbles: Andrew Fieldβs π
ππππππ πΆβπππβ by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/rocking-china-copy.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yudho Aditya (director), Pria, 2017. 22 min. In a world where heterosexuality is still considered the norm, there remain many deterrents for LGBT people from embracing their queerness. And,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βTraditionalist Material Symbols in Yudho Adityaβs ππππβ by Upasana Dandona](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pria-fi.jpg?w=600)
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lt usually takes me two short scooter rides, a session on the Puyuma express train, and a fair amount of walking and waiting to get to and from work every day. I’ve recently given up riding my second scooter from…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βThe Temptation of the Claw Machine’s RevengeβΒ by Quenntis Ashby](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-24-hour-claw-machine-arcade-on-the-corner-of-fuxing-road-and-lide-street-copy.jpg?w=1022)
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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 How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart. Florentyna Leow, How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart, The Emma Press, 2023. 152 pgs. I open Florentyna Leowβs How Kyoto Breaks…
![[REVIEW] βShelter Amid Unfamiliar Rains: Florentyna Leowβs π»ππ€ πΎπ¦ππ‘π π΅πππππ πππ’π π»ππππ‘β by Ari Santiago](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 Soetsu Yanagi, The Beauty of Everyday Things, Penguin, 2018. 352 pgs. The best book purchases are those of volumes discovered serendipitously on a shop shelf, just as the best…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βCraft Work: Soetsu Yanagiβs πβπ π΅πππ’π‘π¦ ππ πΈπ£πππ¦πππ¦ πβππππ β by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/onta-ware-collected-by-yanagi-soetsu.jpg?w=1024)
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TH: We are pleased to present an exclusive essay by Frances An on her forthcoming novel, Ladder Brake. Frances also offered us an excerpt from the book. On Writing Ladder Brake by Frances An After her high-achieving older sister disappears,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Writing πΏπππππ π΅ππππ” by Frances An](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ladder-brake-1.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Nathan Go, Forgiving Imelda Marcos, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023. 240 pgs. Nathan Goβs novel Forgiving Imelda Marcos comes at a kind of global cultural moment for things Filipino and…
![[REVIEW] βOne Fatherβs Regret: Nathan Goβs πΉπππππ£πππ πΌπππππ ππππππ β by Noelle Q. de Jesus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/forgiving-imelda-marcos-1.jpg?w=900)
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing of Mimi by the author. Mimi Iβd like to tell you about Mimi. Sheβs a cat, the shop cat of Taihing Fresh Fruit Store, downstairs in the Tai…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Mimi” by Jasmine Tong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/mimi_jasmine-tong_cha-an-asian-literary-journal-1.jpg?w=1024)
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A scan of a photo I took in August 2015, with a Polaroid camera, using film made by the Impossible Project. It shows a section of a tree that was cut down. A time named “just the next day” and…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Just the Next Day” by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tree-shaman-1-1.jpg?w=907)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989. 288 pgs. The day I began writing this piece, a family of Chinese descent were killed in a shooting…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Amy Tanβs πβπ π½ππ¦ πΏπ’ππ πΆππ’π and the Will to Live” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/le_joy_luck_club__c1.jpg?w=1024)
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I’ve cried a little todayβat church, during the opening lines of the liturgy, and then again over Sunday brunch with my husband. Little ripples of grief bubble up to the surface, then recede. Another month of trying to get pregnant,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Early Spring” by Sheela Jane Menon](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/story_pandemic-pup-1.jpg?w=1024)
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In Laundry City, all life began with the shirt. The rest was optional. Mustard types of men frequently wore that, believing they were invisible, and shame was the weight of a t-shirt. Houses were made of expensive washable elephant hides,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “The Laundry City” by Meiko Ko](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-laundry-city_photo-by-oliver-farry.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Liu Liangcheng (author), Jeremy Tiang (translator), Bearing Word, Balestier Press, 2023. 340 pgs. Liu Liangchengβs Bearing Word is a story about a polyglot translator, a donkey who can see…
![[REVIEW] “Everything Comes Alive, Every Creature Has Agency: Liu Liangcheng’s π΅ππππππ ππππ” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/bearing-word-1.jpg?w=657)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Akira Kurosawa (director), Stray Dog, 1949. 122 min. Tokyo is a city that is always changing. Old buildings are constantly being torn down and new ones put up. As I…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βAkira Kurosawa’s ππ‘πππ¦ π·ππ as a View into Post-war Tokyo” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/stray-dog-3.jpg?w=836)
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π RETURN TO JUST ANOTHER DAY In 1992 the writer Ah Cheng ιΏε kept a Venice Diary. One of its entries consisted of a single line: βToday is June 4, itβs been three years.β These words appear in the bookβs Hong Kong…
![[JUST ANOTHER DAY] Thomas Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/just-another-day_cha.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO JUST ANOTHER DAY On a hot day in July 2022, far from Hong Kong and far from Beijing, I had the privilege of taking part in a tour of the 1863 Bear River Massacre site in southern Idaho…
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π RETURN TO JUST ANOTHER DAY field notes It is a crisp summer morning and out at the back of the house, Max and Oliver are building a table for the garden. Last week, we cleared the debris dumped by the…
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π RETURN TO JUST ANOTHER DAY June 4th! Itβs June 4th. For 34 years Tiananmen has loomed especially large around the anniversary. Much of last week I was writing about the period as I finished my review of Julian Gewirtzβs Never…
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π RETURN TO JUST ANOTHER DAY June 4th is Now a Ghost Festival Since 2019, so many places in Hong Kong have become haunted that we are all used to ghosts. They bleed into the fabric of everyday life, and itβs…
Cha 