Category: 2025 Entries
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TIFF 2025 β 10. The Archivistβs Film: A Conversation on Kunsang Kyirongβs 100 Sunsetβ 9. She Was Screaming into Silence: A Conversation on Cai Shangjunβs The Sun Rises On Us Allβ 8. You Don’t Belong to Anyone: A Conversation on…
![[TIFF 2025] βAffairs of the Heart: On Cai Shangjunβs πβπ ππ’π π
ππ ππ ππ ππ π΄ππ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cai-shangjuns-the-sun-rises-on-us-all-2025.-131-min.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Edward Yang (director), Yi Yi, 2000. 173 min. Edward Yangβs Yi Yi opens in a register of melodrama. A frantic woman bursts into her ex-boyfriendβs wedding venue, collapses…
![[REVIEW] βEverything, Nothing, All at Once: Edward Yangβs ππ ππ” by Keziah Cho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/edward-yang-director-yi-yi-2.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Akiko Ohku (director), Hold Me Back, 2020. 133 min. Akiko Ohku is best known for directing and co-writing Tremble All You Want and Hold Me Back, two films…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Feeling Seen: Akiko Ohkuβs π»πππ ππ π΅πππ and the Solitude of Modern Women” by Danica QP](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hold-me-back-film-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Arun Budhathoki, And I Blamed Canadian Winter Again: Poems East & West, Nirala Publications, 2025. 98pgs. Nepali poet Arun Budhathoki, who has been living in Canada, has recently…
![[REVIEW] βDiaspora and Duality: The Emotional Cartography of Arun Budhathoki’s π΄ππ πΌ π΅πππππ πΆπππππππ ππππ‘ππ π΄ππππβ by Subash Singh Parajuli](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/arun-budhathoki-and-i-blamed-canadian-winter-again-poems-east-west-nirala-publications-2025.-98pgs.-.jpg?w=923)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS LΓͺ Minh HoΓ ng (director), Saigon in the Rain, 2020. βWritten on a rainless Saigon day Urban life has long provided cinema with a stage upon which to capture…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βLΓͺ Minh HoΓ ng’s ππππππ ππ π‘βπ π
πππ: A Resonance of Youth, Migration, and Urban Dreamsβ by Red Po](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/maxresdefault.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βReliving the Filipino 90s Nostalgia in Marla Anchetaβs One Hit Wonderβ by Bryan Elijah Trajano Marla Ancheta (director), One Hit Wonder, 2025. 112 min. Before music was only a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βReliving the Filipino 90s Nostalgia in Marla Anchetaβs πππ π»ππ‘ ππππππβ by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/marla-ancheta-director-one-hit-wonder.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Untold. Bae Suah (author), Deborah Smith (translator), Untold Night and Day, Jonathan Cape, 2020. 155 pgs. It has been some…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Dream and Wakefulness: Reading Bae Suah’s πππ‘πππ πππβπ‘ πππ π·π𦔠by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/untold-night-and-day-1.jpg?w=977)
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Chris Songβs Note: Selected from Hong Kong author Lok Fungβs acclaimed short story collection The Charred City, βA Wayward Wisdom Toothβ recounts the tale of Shevon Kam, a driven beauty executive who endures a decade-long struggle with a decaying wisdom toothβa…
![[TRANSLATION] “A Wayward Wisdom Tooth” by Lok Fung, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/alireza-heidarpour-46cfxprdjni-unsplash.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Emma Zhang reflects on her shifting identity as a language teacher in an age when machine translation threatens the role of English as a bridge to the world. Seeking cultural understanding, she visits TalibΓ©, an exhibition by Mauritanian…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βππππππΜ: The Forgotten Faces of Globalisationβ by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/e07c3432-3e50-439d-b428-1c00cf25c682.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In “Twist of Fate: When Writers Are Better Recognised for Their Images”, Thammika Songkaeo, author of Stamford Hospital (Penguin Random House SEA, 2025; reviewed in Cha), offers a thoughtful reflection on how contemporary publicity privileges appearance, exoticism, and…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Twist of Fate: When Writers are Better Recognised for their Images” by Thammika Songkaeo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/banner-size.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Dynasty that Dreamt in Red: Diamond Shumshere Ranaβs The Wake of the White Tiger” by Abhinav Tulachan Diamond Shumshere Rana, The Wake of the White Tiger. 1984. 235 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] βThe Dynasty that Dreamt in Red: Diamond Shumshere Ranaβs πβπ ππππ ππ πβπ πβππ‘π πππππβ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/diamond-shumshere-rana-the-wake-of-the-white-tiger.jpg?w=347)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sho Miyake (director), Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Tabi to Hibi), 2025. 89 min. A woman sits at her desk, a pencil poised above a blank page. She has been…
![[REVIEW] βWinter of The Soul: On Sho Miyakeβs ππ€π ππππ πππ , ππ€π ππ‘πππππππ β by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/still2_two-seasons-two-strangers_locarno.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In “Noodle Insurrection or a Gathering of Radicals”, Jennifer Eagleton intertwines Chinese character radicals with politics, crafting a witty poem around Shaanxiβs biangbiang noodles. She blends linguistic play, cultural history, and insurrectionary imagery, demonstrating radicalsβ layered meanings. A…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βNoodle Insurrection or a Gathering of Radicalsβ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/biang-biang.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Elizabeth Ai (editor), New Wave: Rebellion and Reinvention in the Vietnamese Diaspora, Angel City Press, 2024. 192 pgs. Elizabeth Aiβs edited volume New Wave: Rebellion and Reinvention in the…
![[REVIEW] βArchival RhythmsβYouth, Identity, and Cultural Resistance in the Vietnamese Diaspora: Elizabeth Ai’s πππ€ πππ£πβ by Nguyα»
n Minh TiαΊΏn](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/acp_11.11.24-54-copy.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS John Hsu (director), Dead Talents Society ι¬ΌζδΉι, 2024. 105 min. Put aside the spine-chilling horror of Nosferatu: what if the realm of the dead had its own celebrity influencers,…
![[REVIEW] βGazing at Ghosts: John Hsuβs π·πππ ππππππ‘π ππππππ‘π¦β by Keziah Cho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/john-hsu-director-dead-talents-society--1.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βFiction as Control: Yiyun Liβs Exacting The Book of Gooseβ by Zalman S.Β Davis ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Yiyun Li.Β Yiyun Li, The Book of Goose, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.…
![[REVIEW] βFiction as Control: Yiyun Liβs Exacting πβπ π΅πππ ππ πΊπππ πβ by Zalman S. Davis](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/yiyun-li-the-book-of-goose-farrar-straus-and-giroux.jpg?w=978)
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Editor’s note: In his reflection “A Slower Mode of Time”, Chris Sullivan contrasts urban haste with natureβs unhurried rhythms, weaving cicadas, childhood memories, and captive flamingos into a meditation on suspended instincts, looping time, and the quiet grace of slower…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βA Slower Mode of Timeβ by Chris Sullivan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/a-slower-mode-of-time-chris-sullivan.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Cuiyu Lin’s “Broken English, Sweet Oranges” is a lyrical meditation on language, fragility, and repair, weaving Chinese porcelain mending with personal scars to reveal brokenness as both burden and beauty, and imperfection as a vessel for truth. The…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Broken English, Sweet Oranges” by Cuiyu Lin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/karolina-grabowska.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Weike Wang, Rental House, Riverhead Books, 2024. 224 pgs. Reading Rental House is, for a Chinese person, a singularly curiousβalmost epiphanicβexperience. Years ago, slightly tipsy at a reception in…
![[REVIEW] βItβs My House, and I Live Here: Weike Wangβs π
πππ‘ππ π»ππ’π πβ by Peixuan Xie](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/rental-house.jpg?w=994)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rajan Kurai Krishnan, Ravindran Sriramachandran, and V.M.S Subagunarajan, Rule of the Commoner: DMK and the Formations of the Political in Tamil Nadu, 1949β1967, Cambridge University Press, 2022. 280 pgs.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βPolitics of the Plebsβπ
π’ππ ππ π‘βπ πΆπππππππ: π·ππΎ πππ π‘βπ πΉπππππ‘ππππ ππ π‘βπ πππππ‘ππππ ππ πππππ ππππ’” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/rule-of-the-commoner.jpg?w=419)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Saad Omar Khan, Drinking the Ocean, Buckrider Books, 2025. 250 pgs. βWe die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Love that Doesnβt Bind: Saad Omar Khanβs π·πππππππ π‘βπ πππππβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/saad-omar-khan-drinking-the-ocean.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Winifred Dongyi Wang, Dissection of the Moon, Accent Edition, 2025. 232 pgs. Dissection of the Moon is a hybrid workβa knotted thing. It unspools the lines drawn across gender,…
![[REVIEW] βKnotted Threads: Memory, Language, and Violence in Winifred Dongyi Wangβs π·ππ π πππ‘πππ ππ π‘βπ ππππβ by Heather Y. Kim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/https-accentaccent.comforthcoming-dissection-of-the-moon.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ Cha on Vigil.Β Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Vigil: The Struggle for Hong Kong, Brixton Ink, 2025. 176 pgs. Jeffrey Wasserstromβs Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink was…
![[REVIEW] βHong Kong Remembered and Rewritten: Jeffrey Wasserstromβs πππππβ by Wayne Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/vigil.jpg?w=977)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ming-sho Ho, Challenging Beijingβs Mandate of Heaven: Taiwanβs Sunflower Movement and Hong Kongβs Umbrella Movement, Temple University Press, 2018. 270 pgs. Ming-sho Hoβs Challenging Beijingβs Mandate of Heaven compares…
![[REVIEW] βRadicals, Realists, and RevolutionsβA Tale of Two Movements: Ming-sho Hoβs πΆβπππππππππ π΅ππππππβπ ππππππ‘π ππ π»πππ£ππβ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/this-is-just-the-begining.jpg?w=720)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ee Ling Quah, Fire Dragon Feminism: Asian Migrant Womenβs Tales of Migration, Coloniality and Racial Capitalism, Bloomsbury, 2025. 216 pgs. βAn exchange of glances, light nods and eye contacts…
![[REVIEW] βDecorative Roles and Dehumanising Gazes: Reflections on Ee Ling Quahβs πΉπππ π·πππππ πΉππππππ πβ by Loritta Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/fire-dragon-feminism-asian-migrant-womens-tales-of-migration-coloniality-and-racial-capitalism.jpg?w=978)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Alvin Pang, All That is Left of the Sea: Selected Poems, Red River Press, 2025. 148 pgs. Emotions and poetry often operate by falling into sync with one another.…
![[REVIEW] βA Bubble of the Sea Holds the Cosmos and Its Caricature: Alvin Pangβs π΄ππ πβππ‘ ππ πΏπππ‘ ππ π‘βπ πππβ by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/alvin-pang-all-that-is-left-of-the-sea-selected-poems-1.jpg?w=792)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kyung-Ran JoΒ (author),Β Chi-Young KimΒ (translator), Blowfish, Astra House, 2025. 304 pgs. Blowfish is a taut, deceptively quiet novel, structured as a contrapuntal meditation on grief, disconnection, and stillness. The stillness seethes…
![[REVIEW] “To Stay, To See, To Not Flee: Kyung-Ran Jo’s π΅πππ€πππ β” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/blowfish-a-novel-hardcover-e28093-july-15-2025-by-kyung-ran-jo-author-chi-young-kim-translator-1.jpg?w=979)
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Editor’s note: Lydia Wongβs evocative essay explores salt as both a material and metaphorical force in Hong Kongβs cultural, political, and sensual identity. From ancient salt fields to contemporary political repression, she traces how salt symbolises preservation, resistance, and longing.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βSALTY WET ιΉΉζΏβ by Lydia Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/salted-fish_peng-chau_december-2019_oliver-farry.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Worst Kind of Dystopia: Hon Lai Chu’s Mending Bodies” by Luca Griseri ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaonΒ Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines…
![[REVIEW] “The Worst Kind of Dystopia: Hon Lai Chu’s πππππππ π΅πππππ ” by Luca Griseri](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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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThammika Songkaeo’s Stamford Hospital: Love and Loneliness in a Capitalist Cityβ by Fathima M Click HERE to read Thammika Songkaeo’s “Twist of Fate” Thammika Songkaeo, Stamford Hospital, Penguin Random House…
![[REVIEW] βThammika Songkaeo’s ππ‘ππππππ π»ππ πππ‘ππ: Love and Loneliness in a Capitalist Cityβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/thammika-songkaeo.jpg?w=977)
Cha 