Category: 2025 Entries
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shze-Hui Tjoa, The Story Game: A Memoir by Shze-Hui Tjoa, Tin House Books, 2024. 208 pgs. It was exam season, except this time I was in university. This class…
![[REVIEW] “Excavation and Memory in Shze-Hui Tjoa’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝐺𝑎𝑚𝑒: 𝐴 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑟” by Nur Hadziqah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/shze-hui-tjoa-the-story-game-a-memoir-by-shze-hui-tjoa.jpg?w=971)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bei Dao (author), Jeffrey Yang (translator), Sidetracks, New Directions, 2024. 176 pgs. The “sidetracks” of Bei Dao’s title can first be understood as a structural metaphor—two parallel…
![[REVIEW] “The Fugitive: Bei Dao’s 𝑆𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠” by Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sidetracks-bei-dao_cha.jpg?w=611)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kōki Mitani (director), Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald, 1997. 103 min. Kōki Mitani has a particular knack for satirising the Japanese inclination to avoid confrontation. As the screenwriter…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Japanese Comedy Cinema at Its Finest: Kōki Mitani’s 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑀𝑟. 𝑀𝑐𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑑” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mv5bodhimtlimzmtodk0my00ogjklwjjmwytythlyta3mzllzjq1xkeyxkfqcgc40._v1_.jpg?w=853)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Karan Mujoo, This Our Paradise, Penguin Random House, 2024. 240 pgs. For some, Kashmir is a paradise of serene valleys and pristine lakes. For others, it is…
![[REVIEW] “A Fractured Paradise: Karan Mujoo’s 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/this-our-paradise.jpeg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Susan Lieu, The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir, Celadon Books, 2024. 305 pgs. The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir is both a profound exploration and a courageous recovery of…
![[REVIEW] “Teetering Between Cultures: Susan Lieu’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡’𝑠 𝐷𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟” by Thu Le](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-manicurists-daughter.jpg?w=987)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kang Hwagil (author), Clare Richards (translator), Another Person, Pushkin Press, 2023. 302 pgs. When her boyfriend chokes her for the fifth time since their office romance began, Kim…
![[REVIEW] “Unmasking Toxic Cultures: Kang Hwagil’s 𝐴𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛” by John Teoh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/another-person-78-reviews-authors-hwa-gil-kang-author-clare-richards-translator.jpg?w=950)
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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 If I Do Not Reply. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, If I Do Not Reply, Shearsman Books, 2024. 110 pgs. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho in Chicago, November 2024…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Art of Waking Up Words: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝐷𝑜 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/if-i-do-not-reply_tammy-ho-1.jpg?w=907)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ▚ Shao Yihui (director), Her Story 好东西, 2024. 123 min. ▚ Ling Jia (director), YOLO 热辣滚烫, 2024. 130 min. Decades after Chairman Mao declared that “women hold up half…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦, 𝑌𝑂𝐿𝑂, and the Alternative Family in Chinese Cinema” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-alternative-family-in-chinese-cinema.png?w=1024)
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RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Soom (author), Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton (translators), One Left, University of Washington Press, 2020. 224 pgs. During the Second World War, over 200,000 Korean girls…
![[REVIEW] “Bearing Witness to History: Kim Soom’s 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡” by John Teoh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/kim-soom-author-bruce-fulton-and-ju-chan-fulton-translators-one-left-1.jpg?w=971)
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RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yilin Wang (editor & translator), The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets, Invisible Publishing, 2024. 120 pgs. The Lantern and The Night…
![[REVIEW] “Poetry Translation in the Chinese Diaspora: Yilin Wang’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑠” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-lantern-and-the-night-moths.jpg?w=1024)
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Ma Ka Fai’s note: These are selected excerpts from my novel Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong III (雙天至尊), forthcoming this year. The story’s protagonist, Hon Tien-Yan, is a passionate martial arts enthusiast and an ardent admirer of Bruce Lee.…
![[TRANSLATION] “Master Ip and the Dragonling” by Ma Ka fai, translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ma-ka-fai-e9a6ace5aeb6e8bc9d.png?w=1024)
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Poet’s note: I consider this poem an ode to beginnings—a constant reminder that, before the hurt sets in, before any damage is done, the first page of any story holds infinite promise. There is always a reason for characters to…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Beginnings are Generous” by Marco Yan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/frost-flowers-thumb.jpeg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Umi Ishihara (director), Gravity and Radiance, 2021. 30 min. Images featured in this piece courtesy of the director. Gravity and Radiance, a 2021 experimental documentary by the London-based Japanese…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Transcendence and Redemption—Umi Ishihara’s 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gravity-and-radiance-3.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 Idol, Burning. Rin Usami (author), Asa Yoneda (translator), Idol, Burning, Canongate, 2022. 96 pgs. Rin Usami’s Idol, Burning (『推し、燃ゆ』, 2020) offers an incisive exploration of…
![[REVIEW] “Belief, Devotion, and Estrangement in Rin Usami’s 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑙, 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/idol-burning-canongate.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rory B. Quintos (director), Anak, 2000. 135 min. Where would we be without our mothers? Watching Anak, one is immediately drawn into its poignant narrative, centred on the life…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Cost of Love and Sacrifice in Rory B. Quintos’s 𝐴𝑛𝑎𝑘” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-child.webp?w=800)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal, Instruments of Torture, Harper Collins India, 2024. 200 pgs. In this haunting collection of stories, each narrative is aptly named after a medieval torture device, metaphorically…
![[REVIEW] “Labyrinthine Corridors of the Human Psyche: Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal’s 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒” by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/aparna-sanyal_cha.jpeg?w=800)
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Author’s note: This is a review of the Disco-TECA performance that took place at The Stage, London, as part of Queer East 2024, which may be different from its previous or subsequent versions. A trailer of the show can be…
![[REVIEW] “Disco-TECA: Disco Culture as Queer Culture” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/g47a2566x.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ❀ Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. 148 pgs.❀ Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 129 pgs.❀ Julie Otsuka,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Julie Otsuka: The Ideal of Justice and the Reality of History” by Jiahe Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/julie-otsuka_cha.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 Idol, Burning. Rin Usami (author), Asa Yoneda (translator), Idol, Burning, HarperVia, 2022.144 pgs. Japan, for me, has long been a pop music paradise. On my…
![[REVIEW] “When a Passion Turns Toxic: Rin Usami’s 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑙, 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔” by Wendy Tokunaga](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/rin-usami-author-asa-yoneda-translator-idol-burning.jpg?w=946)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Annie Zaidi, Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation, Cambridge University Press, 2020. 166 pgs. Annie Zaidi’s memoir Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation…
![[REVIEW] “Lived Reality: Annie Zaidi’s Memoir 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝐶𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐶𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/annie-zaidi-bread-cement-cactus-a-memoir-of-belonging-and-dislocation.jpg?w=971)
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“Article 5.3: Under no circumstances shall any citizen go to the capital.” This is one of the most serious of all our laws. Anyone who grew up in my village of Orfetel, only a few days’ travel from the ruins…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “In Farghestan” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/farghestan6-1.png?w=972)
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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 Half Sound, Half Philosophy. Jing Wang, Half Sound, Half Philosophy: Aesthetics, Politics, and History of China’s Sound Art, Bloomsbury, 2021. 232 pgs. Jing Wang’s Half…
![[REVIEW] “Overhearing 𝑄𝑖: Jing Wang’s 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑦” by Maurice Windleburn](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/half-sound-half-philosophy-aesthetics-politics-and-history-of-chinas-sound-art.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yvonne Yevan Yu, Christine Vicera, and Julie Ham (editors), Ingat: An Anthology of Works by Migrant Domestic Worker Creatives in Hong Kong, Small Tune Press, 2024. 228 pgs. The…
![[REVIEW] “Sometimes Painful, Sometimes Uplifting—𝐼𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑡: 𝐴𝑛 𝐴𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 𝑂𝑓 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠 𝐵𝑦 𝑀𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝐷𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝐼𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔” by Tim Pit Hok Yau](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/4670.jpg?w=500)
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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 In the Mood for Love. Wong Kar-wai (director), In the Mood for Love, 2000. 98 min. I have been haunted by the same film for twenty-five…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Ghosts of Wong Kar-wai: On 𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/in-the-mood-for-love-wong-kar-wai-2020-4k-red-ds-os-195-_blur.webp?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jiaming Tang, Cinema Love, John Murray, 2024. 304 pgs. Cinema Love is the impressive debut novel by Chinese-American writer Jiaming Tang. The book’s blurb and the opening chapters may…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Gut-punching Melodrama: Jiaming Tang’s 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/jiaming-tang-cinema-love-john-murray.jpg?w=975)
Cha 