Category: 2026 Entries
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Editor’s note: Sadie Kaye interviews artist Sai Pradhan on her forthcoming Hong Kong exhibition With Regard to Myths, exploring identity, myth, and materiality. Working on raw, stained fabric, Pradhan evokes symbols, dogs, geckos, eggs, to reflect love, loss, and time.…
![[CONVERSATION] โArt & Soulโ by Sadie Kaye and Sai Pradhan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/with-regard-to-myths-sai-pradhan-19-20-21st-march-invitation.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “ReadingโMaking Notes on (There is Always Music)โGeoffrey William Brodaksilva’s The Philosophy of Aggressiveness” by Jeremy Fernando Geoffrey William. Brodaksilva. The Philosophy of Aggressiveness: The Necessity and Indeterminacy of Escape, Atropos…
![[ESSAY] “ReadingโMaking Notes on (There is Always Music)โGeoffrey William Brodaksilva’s ๐โ๐ ๐โ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐โ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ” by Jeremy Fernando](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/the-philosophy-of-aggressiveness-geoffrey-w-brodaksilva-author.jpg?w=855)
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Editor’s note: Matt Turner recalls a heat-soaked 2008 dรฉrive across Beijing, tracing Soviet-era housing while reflecting on memoryโs fragility and the cityโs rapid transformation. Prompted by Hari Kunzru, he contrasts Situationist theory with lived wandering, critiquing both superficial psychogeography and…
![[ESSAY] “Remembering a Beijing Dรฉrive” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/untitled-design-31.png?w=329)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “King of the Hong Kong Kids: Martin Hรผrlimann’s Hong Kong” by Simon Patton Martin Hรผrlimann. Hong Kong, Thames and Hudson, 1962. 139 pgs. From Martin Hรผrlimann’s Hong Kong My sense…
![[REVIEW] “King of the Hong Kong Kids: Martin Hรผrlimann’s ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐” by Simon Patton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/martin-hurlimann-reader-image.jpg?w=651)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Inheritance and Reinvention in Kit Fanโs Goodbye Chinatown” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions, 2026. 268 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Inheritance and Reinvention in Kit Fanโs ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ ๐ถโ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ค๐” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/goodbye-chinatown-kit-fan-cha.jpg?w=938)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Ryan Ho Kilpatrick reflects on Reorienting Taiwan: Ocean, Selfhood, and the Pacific, a volume that interrogates Taiwanโs asserted maritime identity. The contributors expose tensions between political rhetoric, historical experience,…
![[ESSAY] “Islands in Denial: ๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐ Amid a Sea of Contradictions” by Ryan Ho Kilpatrick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/reorientating-taiwan-ocean-selfhood-and-the-pacific.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In this essay, Daniel Gauss reflects on Bangkokโs Democracy Monument as a symbol of Thailandโs unfulfilled democratic promise. Erected in 1939 to commemorate the 1932 coup that ended absolute monarchy, it honours a revolution carried out by elites…
![[ESSAY] “A Democracy Monument in Bangkok, Still Waiting for Democracyโ by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/the-monument-to-democracy-in-thailand-1.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Gods, Ghosts, and the Lunar Year: Reading Joan Law and Barbara E. Ward’s Chinese Festivals” by Simon Patton Joan Mee Nar Law and Barbara E. Ward. Chinese Festivals: Hong Kong,…
![[REVIEW] “Gods, Ghosts, and the Lunar Year: Reading Joan Mee Nar Law and Barbara E. Ward’s ๐ถโ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐น๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ” by Simon Patton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/41leivsiyil.jpg?w=500)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Metamorphosis and Memory in Dorothy Tse’s City Like Water” by Jonathan Han Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon City Like Water. Dorothy Tse (author), Natascha Bruce (translator). City Like Water, Graywolf…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Metamorphosis and Memory in Dorothy Tse’s ๐ถ๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/city-like-water-dorothy-tse-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.jpg?w=1000)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] โContradictions Amidst a Nation Aborted in Jun Robles Lanaโs Sisaโ by Lorence Lozano Jun Robles Lana (director), Sisa, 2025. 115 min. After its world premiere last year at the 29th…
![[REVIEW] โContradictions Amidst a Nation Aborted in Jun Robles Lanaโs ๐๐๐ ๐โ by Lorence Lozano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sisa-directed-by-jun-lana.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Bittersweet Fusion: Taste, Pain, and Fate in Kit Fan’s Goodbye Chinatown” by Angus Stewart Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions,…
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Beth Adams approaches Do You Like Brahms?, a Korean TV drama set within a prestigious Seoul music school, through her enduring interest in Asian television that explores artistic vocation,…
![[ESSAY] “Music, Ambition, and Quiet Longing in ๐ท๐ ๐๐๐ข ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐โ๐๐ ?” by Beth Adams](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/do-you-like-brahms_.jpg?w=426)
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[ESSAY] โDoes MOCA Bangkok Have a Soft Porn Problem?โ by Daniel Gauss It is time for museums, especially those dedicated to contemporary art, finally to understand the objectification of women. It is also time to ask why one of Asiaโs…
![[ESSAY] “Does MOCA Bangkok Have a Soft Porn Problem?โ by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/museum_of_contemporary_art_moca_bangkok_thailand_-_20161201-05.jpg?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “FOUR TWENTY PM: A.T. Apichart at the National Gallery of Thailand” by Daniel Gauss There is a famous painting by Caravaggio of St Jerome translating the Bible. He is old, gaunt, and frail, and he works with a skull…
![[ESSAY] “FOUR TWENTY PM: A.T. Apichart at the National Gallery of Thailand” by Daniel Gauss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/https-__www.facebook.com_photo__fbid2572090546292510seta.633624243472493.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] โClaire Lee’s On The Verge: Silence, Urban & City Life, and Quiet Chaosโ by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon On the Verge. Claire Lee, On the Verge, Independently…
![[REVIEW] โClaire Lee’s On The Verge: Silence, Urban & City Life, and Quiet Chaosโ by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/on-the-verge_claire-lee.png?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] โShaped by Hong Kong, Sharpened by Wudang: Gigi Changโs Translation Practiceโ by Debra Liu For those of us influenced by the legendary Jin Yong (Louis Cha) Legends of the Condor Heroes series, yet unable to read lengthy works in…
![[ESSAY] โShaped by Hong Kong, Sharpened by Wudang: Gigi Changโs Translation Practiceโ by Debra Liu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/gigi-chang.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โOf Mirth-merchants and Humour Literature: Ankit Raj Ojhaโs The Bare Bones Book of Humourโ by Pradip Mondal Ankit Raj Ojha (editor), The Bare Bones Book of Humour, Bare Bones…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โOf Mirth-merchants and Humour Literature: Ankit Raj Ojhaโs ๐โ๐ ๐ต๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ป๐ข๐๐๐ข๐โ by Pradip Mondal](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/https-__barebonespublishing.in_product_the-bare-bones-book-of-humour_.png?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Freedom from Time and Space: On James Sheaโs Last Day of My Face” by Jonathan Han Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Last Day of My Face. James Shea, The Last Day…
![[REVIEW] “Freedom from Time and Space: On James Sheaโs ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ก ๐ท๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐น๐๐๐” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/https-uipress.uiowa_.edubookslast-day-my-face.jpg?w=970)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] โCultivating the Infinite: The Art and Spiritual Vision of Zhao Hai Tienโ by Jennifer Eagleton Zhao Hai Tien, Cultivation: The Art of Zhao Hai Tien, University of Hong Kong Press,…
![[REVIEW] โCultivating the Infinite: The Art and Spiritual Vision of Zhao Hai Tienโ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/https-__www.haitienart.com_.webp?w=1024)
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All entries on SUNDANCE 2026 [SUNDANCE 2026] โThe Pleasure Principal: A Conversation on Wregas Bhanutejaโs Levitatingโ by Nirris Nagendrarajah & Wregas Bhanuteja Wregas Bhanuteja (director), Levitating, 2026. 119 min. INTRODUCTION Nirris Nagendrarajah Levitating, the third feature by the Indonesian filmmaker…
![[SUNDANCE 2026] โThe Pleasure Principal: A Conversation on Wregas Bhanutejaโs ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐ก๐๐๐โ by Nirris Nagendrarajah & Wregas Bhanutejaย ย](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-2.png?w=680)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โLai Wenโs Tiananmen Square: A Coming-of-Age Dramedy Culminating in a Historic Massacreโ by Kevin McGeary Lai Wen, Tiananmen Square: A Novel, Spiegel & Grau, 2024. 528 pgs. โIn China,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โLai Wenโs ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐: A Coming-of-Age Dramedy Culminating in a Historic Massacreโ by Kevin McGeary](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/lai-wen-tiananmen-square-a-novel-spiegel-grau.jpg?w=667)
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Call for abstractsCha: An Asian Literary Journal Workshop Hong Kong & Ireland:Interwoven Histories, Shared Languages, & Connected Futures Format: Virtual Dates of workshop: TO BE CONFIRMED (July 2026) Workshop focus: This symposium invites proposals that place Hong Kong and Ireland…
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Aastha Upretyโs essay reads Jia Zhangke’s Still Life and Razan AlSalah’s A Stoneโs Throw as twin elegies of engineered upheaval, where dams and pipelines reorder earth and memory. Through…
![[ESSAY] โEnergies of Displacement: Transformation in Jia Zhangkeโs ๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ and Razan AlSalahโs ๐ด ๐๐ก๐๐๐โ๐ ๐โ๐๐๐คโby Aastha Uprety](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/energies-of-displacement-transformation-in-jia-zhangkes-still-life-and-razan-alsalahs-a-stones-throw-by-aastha-uprety.png?w=935)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] โKarbala and the Ethics of Resistance: Premchandโs Vision of Communal Harmonyโ by Fathima M Premchand (author), Haris Qadeer and Sami Rafiq (translators), Karbala, Sahitya Akademi, 2023. 232 pgs. The tragedy…
![[REVIEW] โ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐ and the Ethics of Resistance: Premchandโs Vision of Communal Harmonyโ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/02smpremchand-removebg-preview.png?w=494)
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Editor’s note: Anna Nguyen’s essay “A Dead Language” turns on an offhand slight, โNo one speaks Vietnamese,โ and worries it into grief, form, and theory. Between a fatherโs aphasic silence and a motherโs nightly monologues, Vietnamese persists. English, institutional and…
![[ESSAY] โA Dead Languageโ by Anna Nguyen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/anna-nguyen.jpg?w=933)
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All entries on SUNDANCE 2026 [SUNDANCE 2026] โJosef Kubota Wladyka’s Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!: A Bird, a Body, and the Illusion of Depthโ by Nirris Nagendrarajah Josef Kubota Wladyka (director), Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, 2026. 122 min. In Ha-Chan, Shake…
![[SUNDANCE 2026] “Josef Kubota Wladyka’s ๐ป๐-๐ถโ๐๐, ๐โ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ต๐๐๐ก๐ฆ!: A Bird, a Body, and the Illusion of Depth” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image.png?w=1000)
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[SUNDANCE 2026] “Rafael Manuel’s Filipiรฑana: Beneath the Manicured Surface” by Nirris Nagendrarajah
All entries on SUNDANCE 2026 [SUNDANCE 2026] โRafael Manuel’s Filipiรฑana: Beneath the Manicured Surfaceโ by Nirris Nagendrarajah Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย Filipiรฑana. Rafael Manuel (director), Filipiรฑana, 2026. 100 min. A successful short does not necessarily yield a successful feature. One…
![[SUNDANCE 2026] “Rafael Manuel’s Filipiรฑana: Beneath the Manicured Surface” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1.png?w=1000)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] โWhat We Keep: Memory, Migration, and Survival in M Lin’s The Memory Museumโ by Susan Blumberg-Kason M Lin, The Memory Museum, Graywolf Press. 2026. 272 pgs. Nostalgia is a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “What We Keep: Memory, Migration, and Survival in M Lin’s ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ข๐” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/memory-museum-m-lin-cha-asian.jpg?w=1000)
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All entries on SUNDANCE 2026 [SUNDANCE 2026] โWounded Souls in Stephanie Ahn’s Bedford Parkโ by Nirris Nagendrarajah Stephanie Ahn (director), Bedford Park, 2025. 121 min. I did not like Celine Songโs Past Lives (2023), not for lack of desire to…
![[SUNDANCE 2026] “Wounded Souls in Stephanie Ahn’s ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/bedford-park.jpg?w=230)
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All entries on SUNDANCE 2026 [SUNDANCE 2026] โThree Perspectives on a Haunting: Vera Miao’s Rock Springsโ by Nirris Nagendrarajah Vera Miao (director), Rock Springs, 2026. 97 min. Gracie, played by Aria Kim One leaves Rock Springs with two impressions: that…
![[SUNDANCE 2026] “Three Perspectives on a Haunting: Vera Miao’s ๐
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/rock-springs-cha-nirris.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 