Category: 2025 Entries
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Editor’s note: We are delighted to present Akin Jeje’s vivid essay tracing the evolution of Peel Street Poetry, a Hong Kong-based, community-driven collective that grew from informal bar gatherings into a dynamic literary force. This essay serves as a shorter…
![[ESSAY] “A History of Peel Street Poetry” by Akin Jeje](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/images.png?w=225)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “The Three Teachings in Action: Wayne Wong’s Martial Arts Ecology” by Mario Rustan Wayne Wong. Martial Arts Ecology: Aesthetics, Philosophy and Cinematic Mediation, Edinburgh University Press, 2026. 304 pgs. After…
![[ESSAY] “The Three Teachings in Action: Wayne Wong’s 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/wayne-wong.-martial-arts-ecology-aesthetics-philosophy-and-cinematic-mediation-edinburgh-university-press.jpg?w=750)
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Editor’s note: Chris Sullivan reflects on an unexploded wartime bomb in Hong Kong, observed from Amsterdam, using the incident to consider urban memory, historical residue, and the quiet persistence of past violence. [ESSAY] “Disarming a Ghost” by Chris Sullivan Hong…
![[ESSAY] “Disarming a Ghost” by Chris Sullivan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/disarming-a-ghost-still-square.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Circumnavigation Without Glory: Lav Diaz’s Magellan and the Violence of Discovery” by Oliver Farry Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Magellan. Lav Diaz (director), Magellan, 2025. 165 min. Lav Diaz’s Magellan…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Circumnavigation Without Glory: Lav Diaz’s 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛 and the Violence of Discovery” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/review-22history-as-painting-lav-diazs-magellan22-by-alicia-izharuddin.png?w=795)
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Editor’s note: Llinos Evans’s essay traces the literary and linguistic significance of the One-Syllable Article through a detailed reading of Yuen Ren Chao’s “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den”. Moving beyond its reputation as a phonetic curiosity, it argues for…
![[ESSAY] “Beyond the Stone Den: One-Syllable Articles as Literary Form—An Introduction” by Llinos Evans](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/poem.jpg?w=785)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Observation as Inheritance: iTim Fitts’s The People’s Island” by Jack Greenberg Tim Fitts, The People’s Island, Spuyten Duyvil, 2025. 175 pgs. The People’s Island presents itself as a coming of…
![[REVIEW] “Observation as Inheritance: Tim Fitts’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒’𝑠 𝐼𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑” by Jack Greenberg](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tim-fitts-the-peoples-island-spuyten-duyvil.jpg?w=1000)
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茶 FI茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Gigi L. Leung’s Everyday Movement and the Human Texture of Protest” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement,…
![[REVIEW] “Gigi L. Leung’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 and the Human Texture of Protest” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/everyday-movement-by-gigi-l.-leung-translated-by-jennifer-feeley-.jpg?w=993)
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Editor’s note: Cleo Li-Schwartz’s essay entwines personal pilgrimage and critical meditation, reading Berlin as a palimpsest of Jewish memory, Cold-War fracture, and inherited displacement. Moving through memorials, friendships, and borders, the narrator unsettles any stable present. The essay later turns…
![[ESSAY] “Walking with Leung Ping-kwan: Berlin, Memory, and the Interstice” by Cleo Li-Schwartz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/leung-ping-kwan-cha.jpg?w=716)
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Editor’s note: In this deeply personal essay, Sajita Nair recounts her first pilgrimage to Sabarimala after decades of exclusion shaped by gendered religious custom. Beginning in childhood bewilderment at ritual prohibition, it moves through family memory, mythic inheritance and disciplined…
![[ESSAY] “The Eighteen Steps Home” by Sajita Nair](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/essay-22the-eighteen-steps-home22-by-sajita-nair.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: It is our pleasure to present this piece by Jennifer Eagleton, one of our most valued voices at Cha. A long-term resident of Hong Kong since 1997, Jennifer has built a distinguished career as editor, writer, and scholar,…
![[REFLECTION] “Personal Transformation Docket: 31/12/25” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hongkonger-t-shirt.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Shining Through: The Loboc Children’s Choir in King Palisoc’s Song of the Fireflies” by Bryan Elijah Trajano King Palisoc (director), Song of the Fireflies, 2025. 110 min. Song of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Shining Through: The Loboc Children’s Choir in King Palisoc’s 𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/https-icff.catitle-itemsong-of-the-fireflies.webp?w=432)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Tibet as an Imagined Nation: Myth, Reclamation, and Literary Politics in Koushik Goswami’s Reimagining Tibet” by Jyotirmoy Sil Koushik Goswami, Reimagining Tibet: Politics of Literary Representation, Routledge, 2023. 228 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Tibet as an Imagined Nation: Myth, Reclamation, and Literary Politics in Koushik Goswami’s Reimagining Tibet” by Jyotirmoy Sil](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/tibet.jpg?w=664)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Despair and Tteokbokki: Reading Baek Sehee” by Hana Kim Baek Sehee (author), Anton Hur (translator), I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, Bloomsbury, 208 pgs.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Despair and Tteokbokki: Reading Baek Sehee” by Hana Kim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/book-cover.jpg?w=458)
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[ESSAY] “Preserving the Path of Enlightenment at Borobudur and Not Just the Stones” by Daniel Gauss Borobudur is an allegory of self awareness, growth and social engagement, rendered in volcanic stone. It was not built for veneration, but to be…
![[ESSAY] “Preserving the Path of Enlightenment at Borobudur and Not Just the Stones” by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/borobudur_cha.jpg?w=1024)
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Editorial for Cha‘s November 2012 Issue (Issue 19) [ARCHIVE] “A Hundred Years of Karma” by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho Recently I’ve been riding the bus a lot—three hours a day, more or less. I spend one eighth of my time on…
![[ARCHIVE] “A Hundred Years of Karma” by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/img_6323.jpeg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Skipping, Living: Notes on Xi Xi’s Mourning a Breast” by Madeleine Slavick Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mourning a Breast. Xi Xi (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Mourning a Breast, Giramondo Publishing,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Skipping, Living: Notes on Xi Xi’s 𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡” by Madeleine Slavick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cover_xixi_mourning-a-breast_9781923106109_lr.jpeg?w=1024)
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[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Hu’s 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐷𝑜𝑔: Olympic Ambition Meets Provincial Reality” by Oliver Farry
茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Hu’s Black Dog: Olympic Ambition Meets Provincial Reality” by Oliver Farry Guan Hu (director), Black Dog 狗阵, 2024. 110 min. Guan Hu’s canine drama delineates a quixotic episode…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Guan Hu’s 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐷𝑜𝑔: Olympic Ambition Meets Provincial Reality” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/black-dog-e78b97e998b5.jpg?w=945)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dreams Without Dreamers: Bi Gan’s Beautifully Perverse Resurrection” by Oliver Farry Bi Gan (director), Resurrection 狂野时代, 2025. 156 mins. Bi Gan’s third film is a splendid-looking enigma in the…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dreams Without Dreamers: Bi Gan’s Beautifully Perverse 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/resurrection.png?w=960)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Everyday Movement: Gigi L. Leung’s Love Letter to Hong Kong” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement, Riverhead…
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Translator’s note: Chi Ta-wei’s 紀大偉 short story, “Beneath His Eyes, in Your Palm, a Red, Red Rose Is About to Bloom” 他的眼底, 你的掌心, 即將綻放一朵紅玫瑰 (1994), is a queer, prophetic, postmodern, posthuman, drug-fuelled cyberpunk pastiche, a descent into a stygian labyrinth…
![[TRANSLATION] “Beneath His Eyes, In Your Palm, a Red Rose is About to Bloom” by Chi Ta-wei, translated by Nathaniel Isaacson](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/e-08897.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “On the Verge with Claire Lee: Where Objects Become Literature” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon On the Verge. Claire Lee, On the Verge, Independently published, 2025. 120…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “𝑂𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒 with Claire Lee: Where Objects Become Literature” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/on-the-verge_claire-lee.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “When Technology Becomes a Tool to Erase History: Prabda Yoon’s Transmissions of Unwanted Pasts” by Lorence Lozano Prabda Yoon (director), Transmissions of Unwanted Pasts, 2019. 24 min. Prabda Yoon…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “When Technology Becomes a Tool to Erase History: Prabda Yoon’s 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠” by Lorence Lozano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/f09d9187f09d919ff09d918ef09d919bf09d91a0f09d919af09d9196f09d91a0f09d91a0f09d9196f09d919cf09d919bf09d91a0-f09d919cf09d9193-f09d9188f09d919bf09d91a4f09d918ef09d919bf09d91a1f09d9192f09d919.webp?w=724)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Not A Utopian Land: Rereading the Evenki Culture in Chi Zijian’s novel The Last Quarter of the Moon and Gu Tao’s documentary film The Last Moose of Aoluguya” by Yiwen…
![[ESSAY] “Not Your Utopian Land: Rereading the Evenki Culture in Chi Zijian’s novel 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑛 and Gu Tao’s documentary film 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑎” by Yiwen Liu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/not-a-utopian-land_yiwen-liu.png?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “1331 Runway: Hong Kong Youth Utopia or Real-Estate Planning Malfunction?” by Daniel Gauss In July 2025, international media erupted with enthusiasm over a project in Hong Kong called 1331 Runway. Built on land once occupied by the former Kai…
![[ESSAY] “1331 Runway: Hong Kong Youth Utopia or Real-Estate Planning Malfunction?” by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/767206174.jpg?w=576)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “An Oceanic Taiwan: Niki J. P. Alsford and Ti-Han Chang’s Reorienting Taiwan” by Lu Feng Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Reorienting Taiwan. Niki J. P. Alsford and Ti-Han Chang (editors), Reorienting…
![[REVIEW] “An Oceanic Taiwan: Niki J. P. Alsford and Ti-Han Chang’s 𝑅𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑛” by Lu Feng](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/reorientating-taiwan-ocean-selfhood-and-the-pacific.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “You Are My Friend: On Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness” by Nirris Nagendrarajah Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness, Penguin, 2025. 416 pgs. For Ocean Vuong, the critically acclaimed…
![[REVIEW] “You Are My Friend: On Ocean Vuong’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ocean-vuong-the-emperor-of-gladness.jpg?w=992)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Between Adaptation and Escapism: Navigating Entrapment in Ling Ma’s Severance” by Hilda Wong Ling Ma, Severance, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018. 304 pgs. In an era defined by burnout and quiet…
![[REVIEW] “Between Adaptation and Escapism: Navigating Entrapment in Ling Ma’s 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒” by Hilda Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ling-ma-severance2.jpg?w=970)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [Essay] “1000XRESIST and Immunity in the Chinese Diaspora” by Nick Admussen Sunset Visitor (developer), 1000xResist, Fellow Traveller Games. 2024. 1000xRESIST is a 2024 narrative video game created by the Canadian studio…
![[ESSAY] “1000𝑋𝑅𝐸𝑆𝐼𝑆𝑇 and Immunity in the Chinese Diaspora” by Nick Admussen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/https-www.fellowtraveller.games1000xresist.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Anchors of Memory: Unhomely and Resilience in Jia Zhangke’s Still Life” by Hilda Wong Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Jia Zhangke Jia Zhangke (director). Still Life, 2006.…
![[REVIEW] “Anchors of Memory: Unhomely and Resilience in Jia Zhangke’s 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒” by Hilda Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/jia-zhangkes-still-life.jpg?w=714)
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[ESSAY] “Sixteen Dead, Zero Justice: Cambodia’s Monument to a Silenced Crime” by Daniel Gauss In 2009, Cambodia experienced a rare moment of national pride when Duch, the Khmer Rouge official who oversaw the notorious S-21 prison, was finally brought to…
![[ESSAY] “Sixteen Dead, Zero Justice: Cambodia’s Monument to a Silenced Crime” by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/cambodia_cha.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 