Category: 2025 Entries
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[REVIEW] “Twinkle Khanna’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑖 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑑: Making Dignity a Habit” by Abhinav Tulachan
茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Twinkle Khanna’s The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad: Making Dignity a Habit” by Abhinav Tulachan Twinkle Khanna, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, Juggernaut Books, 2016. 233 pgs. It is remarkable how…
![[REVIEW] “Twinkle Khanna’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑖 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑑: Making Dignity a Habit” by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/the-legend-of-lakshmi-prasad.webp?w=1016)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Personal ‘I’ and Conflicted Identities: Paritosh Sen’s A Tree in My Village” by Dustin Pickering Paritosh Sen, A Tree in My Village, CLASSIX, 2025. 79 pgs. Many contemporary texts…
![[REVIEW] “The Personal ‘I’ and Conflicted Identities: Paritosh Sen’s 𝐴 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑦 𝑉𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒” by Dustin Pickering](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/paritosh-sen.jpg?w=765)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: In Chris Song’s essay, James Shea’s Last Day of My Face (University of Iowa Press, 2025) is read in relation to Hong Kong as both a lived city and…
![[ESSAY] “𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑦 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑒, Past Light of a City: Reading James Shea and Hong Kong” by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/https-uipress.uiowa_.edubookslast-day-my-face.jpg?w=970)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “James Shea’s Last Day of My Face and the Practice of Not Knowing” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Last Day of My Face. James Shea, The Last Day of…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “The Female Researcher and Patriarchal Figures in Hon Lai Chu’s Mending Bodies” by Grace En-Yi Ting Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending…
![[ESSAY] “The Female Researcher and Patriarchal Figures in Hon Lai Chu’s 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Grace En-Yi Ting](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hon-lai-chu-author-jacqueline-leung-translator-mending-bodies-two-lines-press-2025.-240-pgs.jpg?w=938)
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[ESSAY] “A Woman Named Summer: Rethinking Xu Hongfei’s Early Sculpture at the Guangzhou Museum of Art” by Daniel Gauss Xu Hongfei’s Summer, photos by Daniel Gauss Among the many works displayed in the Guangzhou Museum of Art, one marble sculpture…
![[ESSAY] “A Woman Named Summer: Rethinking Xu Hongfei’s Early Sculpture at the Guangzhou Museum of Art” by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/img_20251125_110600.jpg?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “The Burden of Representation: 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 and the BDSM Representation on Screen” by Hongwei Bao
茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “The Burden of Representation: Pillion and the BDSM Representation on Screen” by Hongwei Bao Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Pillion & Box Hill. Editor’s note: Hongwei Bao revisits the conversations prompted…
![[ESSAY] “The Burden of Representation: 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 and the BDSM Representation on Screen” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pillion-film-review-2025-cha-an-asian-literary-journal-hongwei-bao.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Mariko Nagai’s Imaginary Death: The Genre-Bending Architecture of Wartime Testimony” by James Au Kin-Pong Mariko Nagai, Imaginary Death, Punctum Books, 2025. 297 pgs. It is difficult to determine the genre to…
![[REVIEW] “Mariko Nagai’s 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ: The Genre-Bending Architecture of Wartime Testimony” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/imaginary-death-mariko-nagai.png?w=600)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “When News Breaks: Carol Lin’s Memoir of Love and War” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Carol Lin, When News Breaks, Third Rail Press, 2025. 284 pgs. Carol Lin came of age in…
![[REVIEW] “𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑠: Carol Lin’s Memoir of Love and War” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/when.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “STEP OUT Studios’ The Next Movement Blasts Out Futuristic Sounds From the Dancers’ Feet” by by Dawna Fung Wong Chun-ho (director), Zoe Chan & Cal Tang (artistic directors & choreographers), hirsk…
![[REVIEW] “STEP OUT Studios’ 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 Blasts Out Futuristic Sounds From the Dancers’ Feet” by by Dawna Fung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/the-next-movement2.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Kokuho: Lee Sang-il’s Mesmerizing Portrait of Kabuki Mastery” by Jennifer Eagleton Lee Sang-il (director), Kokuho, 2025. 174 min. What makes Lee Sang-il’s Kokuho special are the tight closeups of onnagata…
![[REVIEW] “𝐾𝑜𝑘𝑢ℎ𝑜: Lee Sang-il’s Mesmerizing Portrait of Kabuki Mastery” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/httpsgkids.comfilmskokuho.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Endearing Sisterhood in Yoko Ogawa’s Mina’s Matchbox” by Fathima M Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mina’s Matchbox. Yōko Ogawa (author), Stephen B. Snyder (translator), Mina’s Matchbox, Pantheon Books, 2024. 288…
![[REVIEW] “The Endearing Sisterhood in Yoko Ogawa’s 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑎’𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑥” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/819ycgclrml._sl1500_.jpg?w=940)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Where Do We Belong? On Language, Migration, & Teresa Wong’s All Our Ordinary Stories” by Rebekah Chan Teresa Wong, All Our Ordinary Stories, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024. 240 pgs.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Where Do We Belong? On Language, Migration, and Teresa Wong’s 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Rebekah Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/arsenal-pulp-press-our-ordinary-stories.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Etienne Périer’s Bridge to the Sun and Extremism Abroad” by Jeremiah Dutch Etenne Périer (director), Bridge to the Sun, 1961. 113 min. Living abroad and watching one’s homeland descend…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Etienne Périer’s 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑢𝑛 and Extremism Abroad” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/bridge-to-the-sun-cha.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Light, Heat, Power: Rescuing the Modern in Leo Ou-fan Lee’s Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945” by Victoria Green Leo Lee Ou-fan, Shanghai Modern:…
![[REVIEW] “Light, Heat, Power: Rescuing the Modern in Leo Ou-fan Lee’s 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑎𝑖 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑈𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎, 1930-1945″ by Victoria Green](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/leo-lee-ou-fan-shanghai-modern-the-flowering-of-a-new-urban-culture-in-china-1.jpg?w=1019)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: In “E.T. 3 is Lying in a Coffin Outside Wuhan”, Angus Stewart explores Xiaosha Zhang’s 2018 mockumentary My Son Went to an Alien Planet (E.T. Made in China), situating…
![[ESSAY] “E.T. 3 is Lying in a Coffin Outside Wuhan” by Angus Stewart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/https-mubi.comenbefilmse-t-made-in-china.webp?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Impossible (Between) Girls: Lilly Hu’s One Girl Infinite” by Hongwei Bao Lilly Hu (director), One Girl Infinite 不可能女孩, 2025. 102 min. The Chinese title of Lilly Hu’s (also known in…
![[REVIEW] “Impossible (Between) Girls: Lilly Hu’s 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/one-girl-infinite-e4b88de58fafe883bde5a5b3e5ada9-2025.jpeg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Who’s Afraid of Not Conjoined Bodies?: Hon Lai Chu’s Mending Bodies” by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies,…
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[ESSAY] “Wong Bar Wine: A Cinematic Oasis in Hanoi” by Zalman S. Davis On a calm Monday evening, I found myself at 14B Hai Bà Trưng in Hanoi, drawn to a cosy corner on Tràng Tiền that radiated a warm, amber…
![[ESSAY] “Wong Bar Wine: A Cinematic Oasis in Hanoi” by Zalman S. Davis](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/img_20241222_010158-e1761994105173.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hisham Matar, The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between, Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2016, 256 pgs. You walk into a memoir anticipating something deeply personal. You expect to encounter…
![[REVIEW] “A Memory of Absence: Hisham Matar’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛” by Varsha Nair](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/hisham-matar-the-return-fathers-sons-and-the-land-in-between-2.jpg?w=660)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “From Silence to Sound: Kaori Lai’s Microhistorical Poetics of the White Terror” by Serena De Marchi Kaori Lai (author), Sylvia Li-chun Lin and Howard Goldblatt (translators), Portraits in White, Columbia…
![[REVIEW] “From Silence to Sound: Kaori Lai’s Microhistorical Poetics of the White Terror” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/portraits-in-white-by-kaori-lai.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Quynh H. Vo (translators), Longings: Contemporary Fiction by Vietnamese Women Writers, Texas Tech University Press, 2024. 260 pgs. Vietnamese literature in English translation is…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Finding Meaning in the Very Act of Questioning—𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠: 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐹𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠” by Rebecca Maine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/longings-contemporary-fiction-by-vietnamese-women-writers.jpg?w=907)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jerrold Tarog (director), Quezon, 2025. 135 min. “Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are…
![[REVIEW] “Tarog’s 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑧𝑜𝑛: A Definition of Machiavellian Politics” by Gene Michael M. Atanacio](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/jerrold-tarog-director-quezon-2.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: We are honoured to present the personal reflection “Curriculum Vitae in Silence” and the poem of the same title by Liu Hongbin, a Chinese British poet of Tiananmen exile. He was shaped by a childhood torn between pastoral…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Curriculum Vitae in Silence” by Liu Hongbin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/marble-feature.webp?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Chris Martinez’s Kontrabida Academy and the Anatomy of a Filipino Teleserye” by Bryan Elijah Trajano Chris Martinez (director), Kontrabida Academy, 2025. 107 min. Teleserye (drama), whether on television or in…
![[REVIEW] “Chris Martinez’s 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑑𝑎 𝐴𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑦 and the Anatomy of a Filipino Teleserye” by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/chris-martinez-director-kontrabida-academy-2025.-107-min.jpg?w=1000)
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Chris Song’s Note: Liu Yichang’s 劉以鬯 (1918–2018) short story “Riot” 動亂, set against the backdrop of the 1967 Hong Kong Riots, is a hauntingly experimental meditation on violence, urban alienation, and the blurred boundary between the living and the inanimate.…
![[TRANSLATION] “Riot” by Liu Yichang, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/liu-yichang-and-chris-song-1.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Pillion & Box Hill. Editor’s note: We are delighted to present Hongwei Bao’s essayistic film review, which blends cultural history, theory, and critique through the…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS James Albon (author and illustrator), Love Languages, Top Shelf Productions, 2025. 176 pgs. The book begins with six pages of vibrant illustrations depicting people of diverse cultural backgrounds at…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Life Outside the Bubble in James Albon’s 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠” by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/lovelangs_jalbon-2.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uno Chiyo (author), Rebecca Copeland (translator), The Story of a Single Woman, Pushkin Press, 2025. 106 pgs. Everything in Uno Chiyo’s The Story of a Single Woman, translated from…
![[REVIEW] “The Trembling of Memory: Self and Society in Uno Chiyo’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛” by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/uno-chiyo-author-rebecca-copeland-translator-the-story-of-a-single-woman-pushkin-press-1.jpg?w=977)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Alternative Local and Translocal Hong Kong Histories in Larissa Lai’s The Lost Century” by Yiwen Liu Larissa Lai, The Lost Century: A Novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022. 374 pgs. Published…
![[REVIEW] “Alternative Local and Translocal Hong Kong Histories in Larissa Lai’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑦” by Yiwen Liu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/larissa-lai-the-lost-century.png?w=1024)
Cha 