Category: 2025 Entries
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β On Becoming a Hong Kongese Writerβ Sunset at Lion Rock: An Excerpt Matthew Wong Foreman, Sunset at Lion Rock, Proverse Press, 2024. 288 pgs. {Read Jason S Polley’s review.} In my Hong Kong, the Hong Kong of our hearts, we greet each…
![[FEATURE] “ππ’ππ ππ‘ ππ‘ πΏπππ π
πππ: An Excerpt” by Matthew Wong Foreman](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/matthew-wong-foreman-sunset-at-lion-rock-1.webp?w=663)
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β On Becoming a Hong Kongese Writerβ Sunset at Lion Rock: An Excerpt Matthew Wong Foreman, Sunset at Lion Rock, Proverse Press, 2024. 288 pgs. {Read Jason S Polley’s review.} For over 2,000 years, apocalyptic visions of doomβof the End Times, of destruction,…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Anna Qu, Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor, Catapult, 2021. 224 pgs. Made in China is a sensitive, thoughtful exploration of the inextricable ties between labour,…
![[REVIEW] βNegotiating Love and Labour in Anna Quβs ππππ ππ πΆβπππβ by Fion Tse](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/made-in-china-anna-qu.jpg?w=993)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Cho Nam-joo. Cho Nam-Joo (author), Jamie Chang (translator), Saha: A Novel, Liveright, 2023. 161 pgs. Cho Nam-Jooβs Saha: A Novel (γμ¬ν맨μ γ, 2019) presents a dystopian…
![[REVIEW] βNarrating the Margins of the Future: Cho Nam-Jooβs ππβπβ by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cho-nam-joos-saha.jpg?w=789)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shuchi Talati (director), Girls Will Be Girls, 2024. 118 min. Female sexuality has long remained one of the most stringently policed and anxiously mediated territories. The erotic interiority of…
![[REVIEW] βShuchi Talatiβs πΊππππ ππππ π΅π πΊππππ : A Stirring, Sublime Portrait of Becomingβ by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/girls-will-be-girls-2.webp?w=780)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Chen Qiufan (author), Ken Liu (translator), Waste Tide, Tor Books, 2019. 352 pgs. They call us “the waste people.” Waste is dirty, inferior, lowly, useless, but omnipresent. They produce…
![[REVIEW] βA Harrowing Future of Waste in Chen Qiufanβs πππ π‘π ππππβ by Loritta Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/chen-qiufan-author-ken-liu-translator-waste-tide.jpg?w=798)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βSamrat Upadhyay’s Mad Country: To Adapt and Thrive in the Chaosβ by Abhinav Tulachan Samrat Upadhyay, Mad Country, Soho Press, 2017. 304 pgs. Abhinav Tulachan’s copy of Mad Country Following…
![[REVIEW] βSamrat Upadhyay’s πππ πΆππ’ππ‘ππ¦: To Adapt and Thrive in the Chaosβ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/samrat-upadhyay-mad-country-1.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Donald Keene, The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku, Columbia University Press, 2016. 288 pgs. At the age of fifteen, I first encountered the Chinese translation of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Poetβs Most Unvarnished Desires and Defeats: Donald Keeneβs πβπ πΉπππ π‘ ππππππ π½ππππππ πβ by Jiahe Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/the-first-modern-japanese-the-life-of-ishikawa-takuboku-2.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS This is a review of the play Min forsvundne onkelΒ (My Missing Uncle ζε€±θΉ€ηθ θ ) produced by Nydanskeren Jimbuts Kulturforening and premiered at Teater FΓ R302, Copenhagen, on 2-12 April 2025.…
![[REVIEW] βReimagining Chinese Queer History and Looking for an Alternative World: A Review of ππ¦ πππ π πππ πππππβ by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/untitled_1.4.1-jacob-linholdt.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Asako Yuzuki (author), Polly Barton (translator), Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder, Fourth Estate, 2024. 464 pgs. Butter is inspired by the true story of a…
![[REVIEW] βAsako Yuzukiβs π΅π’π‘π‘ππ: Tasting the Essential Selfβ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/butter-a-novel-of-food-and-murder-1.jpg?w=985)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rob Noble, Octopus: The Pioneering Story of the Worldβs First Contactless Payment Card, Blacksmith Books, 2023, 396 pgs. As a resident of a city bereft of a…
![[REVIEW] βThe Almost Everything CardβRob Nobleβs πππ‘πππ’π : πβπ ππππππππππ ππ‘πππ¦ ππ π‘βπ πππππβπ πΉπππ π‘ πΆπππ‘πππ‘πππ π πππ¦ππππ‘ πΆπππβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/octopus-the-pioneering-story-of-the-worlds-first-contactless-payment-card-1.jpg?w=896)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Ezra Pound’s Chinese Friends. Zhaoming Qian (editor), Ezra Poundβs Chinese Friends: Stories in Letters, Oxford University Press. 2008. 272 pgs. A fascination with…
![[REVIEW] βEzra Pound’s Chinese Character: What Did the Great Modernist Author Really Know About Confucius in the Original?β by Kerry Brown](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ezra-pounds-chinese-friends-stories-in-letters.jpg?w=637)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran (editors), The Colors of April: Fiction on the Vietnam Warβs Legacy 50 Years Later, Three Room Press, 2025. 306 pgs. The Colors of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βAn Empathetic Communion with the Pastβπβπ πΆπππππ ππ π΄ππππ: πΉπππ‘πππ ππ π‘βπ ππππ‘πππ πππβπ πΏπππππ¦ 50 πππππ πΏππ‘ππβ by Aaron Gerhart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-colors-of-april-fiction-on-the-vietnam-wars-legacy-50-years-later--1.jpg?w=1000)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hideko Abe, Queer Japanese: Gender and Sexual Identities through Linguistic Practices, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 199 pgs. Queer Japanese: Gender and Sexual Identities through Linguistic Practices offers readers a glimpse…
![[REVIEW] βSpeaking in Queer Tongues: Language, Identity, and Everyday Resistance in Hideko Abe’s ππ’πππ π½ππππππ πβ by Jane McBride](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/queer-japanese-gender-and-sexual-identities-through-linguist-practices-1.jpg?w=827)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Naomi Kawase, True Mothers, 2020. 140 min. Are human faces a resource? Are they a commodity? Can they be picked like grapes and harvested like grain? Can they be…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Face Of Integrity In Naomi Kawase’s πππ’π πππ‘βπππ ” by Anders KΓΈlle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/true-mothers.jpg?w=708)
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Japanese cinema has long been a vanguard of distinctive stylistic choices, particularly in the realm of horror. J-horror eschews gratuitous special effects in favour of an atmospheric approach that meticulously cultivates suspense, delivering an experience that is profoundly unsettling. Ringu…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βBefore J-Horror: The Paranormal in Ancient Japanese Writingβ by Tushi Gogoi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/a-traditional-japanese-emaki-scroll-scene-depicting-a-22hyakkiyagyo22-.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Making of An Unlikely Maritime SuperpowerβJack Weatherfordβs Emperor of the Seas: Kublai Khan and the Making of Chinaβ by Ryan Ho Kilpatrick Jack Weatherford, Emperor of the Seas: Kublai…
![[REVIEW] βThe Making of An Unlikely Maritime SuperpowerβJack Weatherfordβs πΈππππππ ππ π‘βπ ππππ : πΎπ’ππππ πΎβππ πππ π‘βπ ππππππ ππ πΆβπππβ by Ryan Ho Kilpatrick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/emperor-of-the-seas-kublai-khan-and-the-making-of-china-1.jpg?w=963)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Uncovering the Truths of the Toleration-Regulation RegimeβPark Jeong-mi’s The State’s Sexuality: Prostitution and Postcolonial Nation Building in South Korea” by Jack Greenberg Park Jeong-mi, The Stateβs Sexuality: Prostitution and Postcolonial…
![[REVIEW] “Uncovering the Truths of the Toleration-Regulation RegimeβPark Jeong-mi’s πβπ ππ‘ππ‘πβπ πππ₯π’ππππ‘π¦: ππππ π‘ππ‘π’π‘πππ πππ πππ π‘ππππππππ πππ‘πππ π΅π’ππππππ ππ πππ’π‘β πΎππππ” by Jack Greenberg](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/https-www.ucpress.edubooksthe-states-sexualitypaper-1.jpg?w=1000)
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β I Made Sure It Had Nothing Whatsoever To Do With Hong Kong: A Confessionβ The Ballad of Billy Lopez: An Excerpt Stewart McKay, The Ballad of Billy Lopez, Proverse Publishing, 2024. 208 pgs. So Iβm walking down the middle of the…
![[FEATURE] “πβπ π΅πππππ ππ π΅ππππ¦ πΏππππ§: An Excerpt” by Stewart McKay](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/stewart-mckay.jpg?w=971)
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β I Made Sure It Had Nothing Whatsoever To Do With Hong Kong: A Confessionβ The Ballad of Billy Lopez: An Excerpt Stewart McKay, The Ballad of Billy Lopez, Proverse Publishing, 2024. 208 pgs. You have lived in Hong Kong…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Matthew Wong Foreman, Sunset at Lion Rock, Proverse Press, 2024. 288 pgs. ………Iβve no strength left to stop the contradiction………My heart is tired and my eyes blurry you know………βLeslie…
![[REVIEW] “Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Among Many, Many Other Things: Matthew Wong Foremanβs ππ’ππ ππ‘ ππ‘ πΏπππ π
πππ” by Jason S Polley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/matthew-wong-foreman-sunset-at-lion-rock-1.jpg?w=962)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bong Joon-ho (director), Mickey 17, 2025. 137 min. Header image Β© bartos. Bong Joon-hoβs Mickey 17 is at once an existential tragedy and a darkly comic spectacleβa sci-fi epic…
![[REVIEW] “Dying for a Living: Bong Joon-ho’s ππππππ¦ 17 and the Horror of Being Replaceable” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/c2a9marclafon-mickey17-rectangle.jpg?w=1024)
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Russell Leong on these poems: Like apparitions or long-lost friends, these three unpublished poemsβwritten more than twenty years ago in New London, Connecticut; Cuse, France; and Hong Kong, Chinaβhave returned to me through the efforts of editor Tammy Lai-Ming Ho.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Three Poems by Russell Leong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/three-poems-by-russell-leong.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS For Gab Angeles, who lent me the book. Natsume SΕseki (author), Meredith McKinney (translator), Kokoro, Penguin Classics, 2010. 256 pgs. Kokoro is the final novel written by Natsume SΕseki.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βThe Virtue of Melancholy: Reading Natsume SΕsekiβs πΎπππππβ by Ramzzi FariΓ±as](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/kokoro.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βA Shifting, Unstable World: Can Xueβs I Live in the Slumsβ by Zalman S. Davis Can Xue (author), Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping (translators), I Live in the Slums, Yale…
![[REVIEW] βA Shifting, Unstable World: Can Xueβs πΌ πΏππ£π ππ π‘βπ πππ’ππ β by Zalman S. Davis](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/i-live-in-the-slums-1.jpg?w=968)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βSusan Barkerβs Old Soul: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternityβ by Kevin McGeary Susan Barker, Old Soul, Penguin, 2025. 352 pgs. In 2014, Susan Barker published…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βSusan Barkerβs πππ πππ’π: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternityβ by Kevin McGeary](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/old-soul-susan-barker.jpg?w=975)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Hiroko Oyamada. Hiroko Oyamada (author), David Boyd (translator), The Factory, New Directions, 2019. 128 pgs. Hiroko Oyamadaβs The Factory weaves…
![[REVIEW] βA Senseless Menagerie: Hiroko Oyamadaβs πβπ πΉπππ‘πππ¦β by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/the-factory.png?w=562)
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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 Fly Me to the Moon. Sasha Chuk (director), Fly Me to the Moon δ½ι‘δΊΊι·δΉ , 2023. 112 min. Every era of Hong Kong cinema has…
![[REVIEW] βIn the Wake of Hong Kong Dreaming: Sasha Chuk’s πΉππ¦ ππ π‘π π‘βπ ππππ” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/fly-me-to-the-moon.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yuta Takahashi (author), Cat Anderson (translator), The Chibineko Kitchen, John Murray, 2024. 192 pgs. The Japanese iyashikeiβor healingβgenre has resonated deeply with readers worldwide, offering solace and comfort through…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dining with the Departed: Yuta Takahashiβs πβπ πΆβπππππππ πΎππ‘πβππ” by Aditi Yadav](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-chibineko-kitchen-john-murray-1.jpg?w=651)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Absolutely on Music. Haruki Murakami (author), Jay Rubin (translator), Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. 352 pgs. When we look back…
![[REVIEW] “A Symphony of Words and SoundβHaruki Murakami’s π΄ππ πππ’π‘πππ¦ ππ ππ’π ππ: πΆπππ£πππ ππ‘ππππ π€ππ‘β πππππ ππ§ππ€π” by Antonia Yang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/absolutely-on-music-conversations-with-seiji-ozawa-alfred-a.-knopf-2016.jpg?w=751)
Cha 