Category: 2025 Entries
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS β Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. 148 pgs.β Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 129 pgs.β 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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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ 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] βWhen a Passion Turns Toxic: Rin Usamiβs πΌπππ, π΅π’πππππβ 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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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ 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 Zaidiβs memoir Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation…
![[REVIEW] βLived Reality: Annie Zaidiβs Memoir π΅ππππ, πΆπππππ‘, πΆπππ‘π’π ” 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 daysβ travel from the ruins…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βIn Farghestanβ by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/farghestan6-1.png?w=972)
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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 Half Sound, Half Philosophy. Jing Wang, Half Sound, Half Philosophy: Aesthetics, Politics, and History of Chinaβs Sound Art, Bloomsbury, 2021. 232 pgs. Jing Wangβs Half…
![[REVIEW] “Overhearing ππ: Jing Wangβs π»πππ πππ’ππ, π»πππ πβππππ ππβ𦔠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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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ 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] βSometimes Painful, Sometimes UpliftingβπΌππππ‘: π΄π π΄ππ‘βπππππ¦ ππ πππππ π΅π¦ πππππππ‘ π·ππππ π‘ππ ππππππ πΆππππ‘ππ£ππ πΌπ π»πππ πΎπππβ by Tim Pit Hok Yau](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/4670.jpg?w=500)
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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 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 πΌπ π‘βπ ππππ πππ πΏππ£π” by Anders KΓΈlle](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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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ 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 bookβs blurb and the opening chapters may…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βGut-punching Melodrama: Jiaming Tangβs πΆπππππ πΏππ£πβ by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/jiaming-tang-cinema-love-john-murray.jpg?w=975)
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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 Mina’s Matchbox. YΕko Ogawa (author), Stephen B. Snyder (translator), Minaβs Matchbox, Pantheon Books, 2024. 288 pages. In YΕko Ogawaβs previous novel, The Memory Police, set…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βMemory-keeping: YΕko Ogawaβs ππππβπ πππ‘πβπππ₯β by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/819ycgclrml._sl1500_.jpg?w=940)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lauren Walden, Surrealism from Paris to Shanghai, Hong Kong University Press, 2024. 152 pgs. In Surrealism from Paris to Shanghai, Lauren Walden has done modern Chinese art history a…
![[REVIEW] βRecovering Shanghaiβs Lost Surrealist Tradition: Lauren Waldenβs ππ’πππππππ π ππππ πππππ π‘π πβπππβππβ by Paul French](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/surrealism-from-paris-to-shanghai.jpg?w=1024)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Listen. Chan Kwan Ee Tom, Listen, Atmosphere Press, 2023. In monochrome, a fallen beast is manipulated by puppet strings that ensnare a hand. Upon closer inspection,…
![[REVIEW] “What Did I Hope to Hear?: A Review of Chan Kwan Ee Tom’s πΏππ π‘ππ” by Lian-Hee Wee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/listen_chan-kwan-ee-tom.jpg?w=1024)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Wong Siu-pong (director), Obedience, 2024. 71 min. Although Wong Siu-pongβs latest observational documentary, Obedience, does not actively stir emotions in its audiences, it is laden with unspoken weight. Featuring…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Placeβs Sorrowful Tomorrow: Wong Siu-pongβs πππππππππβ by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/obedience_wong.jpg?w=1024)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jose Lorenzo βPepeβ Diokno, Isang Himala, 2024. 145 min. Isang Himala (A Miracle), directed by Jose Lorenzo βPepeβ Diokno, is an adaptation on three levelsβof the screenplay by National…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Miracle of Adaptation in Pepe Dioknoβs πΌπ πππ π»πππππβ by Richell Isaiah Flores](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/jose-lorenzo-pepe-diokno-isang-himala-2024_2-2.jpg?w=1024)
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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [ESSAY] βA History of Peel Street Poetryβ by Akin Jeje](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/images.png?w=225)
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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [REVIEW] βThe Strangeness Within: On Rajyabardhan Dhal Mahapatraβs The Nomadβs Houseβ by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-untitled-design.png?w=600)
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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [EXCLUSIVE] βLove or Enemy? South Koreaβs Churches at a Crossroadsβ by Woojin Son](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/love-or-enemy-south-koreas-churches-at-a-crossroads-2.png?w=1024)
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