Category: Cha Review of Books and Films
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [INCIDENTAL] “After the Credits Rolled: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a Writerβs Awakening” by Larnchana Larkshitha Alahendra Ang Lee (director). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000. 120 min. Few films can transport…
![[INCIDENTAL] “After the Credits Rolled: πΆπππ’πβπππ πππππ, π»πππππ π·πππππ and a Writerβs Awakening” by Larnchana Larkshitha Alahendra](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Tiger-Dragon.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βA Tale of Two Suzhou Riversβ by Bea Phi Lou Ye (director). Suzhou River, 2000. 79 min. Recently curated by Kogonada for the Metrograph in Manhattan, Lou Yeβs 2000 film…
![[ESSAY] βA Tale of Two Suzhou Riversβ by Bea Phi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Suzhou-he.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βSa Re Ga MΔyΔ: The Speculative Life of Breath in Anaar Desai-Stephensβs Voicing Aspirationβ by Tyran Grillo Anaar Desai-Stephens. Voicing Aspiration: Bollywood Songs and Dreamwork in Contemporary India. Wesleyan University…
![[ESSAY] βSa Re Ga MΔyΔ: The Speculative Life of Breath in Anaar Desai-Stephensβs πππππππ π΄π πππππ‘πππβ by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Voicing-Aspiration.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Guest Who Could Be a Better Son: Merit, Substitution and Family Belonging in Lin Jianjie’s Brief History of a Family” by Qinlei Wang Lin Jianjie (director). Brief History of…
![[REVIEW] “The Guest Who Could Be a Better Son: Merit, Substitution and Family Belonging in Lin Jianjie’s π΅ππππ π»ππ π‘πππ¦ ππ π πΉππππ𦔠by Qinlei Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Brief-History-of-a-Family-1.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βThe Moon Still Represents My Heart: Revisiting TiΓ‘n MΓ¬ MΓ¬ at Thirtyβ by Bea Phi Peter Ho-sun Chan (director). Comrades: Almost a Love Story (ηθθ; TiΓ‘n MΓ¬ MΓ¬), 1996. 118…
![[ESSAY] βThe Moon Still Represents My Heart: Revisiting ππππ ππ ππ at Thirtyβ by Bea Phi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/comrades-almost-a-love-story-2.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Rey Chow and the Politics of Coercive Mimeticism in The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Anna Nguyen Rey Chow. The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism.…
![[REVIEW] “Rey Chow and the Politics of Coercive Mimeticism in πβπ ππππ‘ππ π‘πππ‘ πΈπ‘βπππ πππ π‘βπ ππππππ‘ ππ πΆππππ‘ππππ π” by Anna Nguyen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/The-Protestant-Ethnic-and-the-Spirit-of-Capitalism.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [INCIDENTAL] “Ghost in the Shell Rewired: Identity, Technology and the Fantastical at Hong Kong’s M+” by Jennifer Eagleton Mamoru Oshii (director). Ghost in the Shell, 1995. 83 min. Ghost in the…
![[INCIDENTAL] “πΊβππ π‘ ππ π‘βπ πβπππ Rewired: Identity, Technology and the Fantastical at Hong Kong’s M+” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Ghost-in-the-Shell-1995-directed-by-Mamoru-Oshii.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βYuanfen of Emmy the Great: On Emma-Lee Mossβs My Cantopop Nightsβ by Mario Rustan Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon My Cantopop Nights. Emma-Lee Moss. My Cantopop Nights:…
![[REVIEW] βππ’πππππ of Emmy the Great: On Emma-Lee Mossβs ππ¦ πΆπππ‘ππππ πππβπ‘π β by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/emma-lee-moss.-my-cantopop-nights-a-memoir-in-songs.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Sacred Body, Violated Soil: Semi-Colonialism, Social Hypocrisy and the Female Body in Wu Yonggangβs The Goddess” by Hilda Wong Wu Yonggang (director). The Goddess, 1934. 73 min. She is a…
![[REVIEW] “Sacred Body, Violated Soil: Semi-Colonialism, Social Hypocrisy and the Female Body in Wu Yonggangβs πβπ πΊπππππ π ” by Hilda Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/202516889_1_RWD_1380.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Satire, Science, and Utopia: Wu Jianrenβs New Story of the Stone” by Ronald Gray Wu Jianren (author), Liz Evans Weber (translator). New Story of the Stone: An Early Chinese Science…
![[REVIEW] “Satire, Science, and Utopia: Wu Jianrenβs πππ€ ππ‘πππ¦ ππ π‘βπ ππ‘πππ” by Ronald Gray](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/New-Story-of-the-Stone.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βLast Cry: Light, Love and Everyday Evil in Weβre Nothing at Allβ by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on We’re Nothing at All. Herman Yau (director). Weβre Nothing at…
![[ESSAY] “Last Cry: Light, Love and Everyday Evil in ππβππ πππ‘βπππ ππ‘ π΄ππ” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/images-2.jpeg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βBetween Hegel and Home: Reading Fukuyamaβs In the Realm of the Last Manβ by Raymond Pun Francis Fukuyama. In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir, Farrar, Straus and…
![[REVIEW] “Between Hegel and Home: Reading Fukuyamaβs πΌπ π‘βπ π
ππππ ππ π‘βπ πΏππ π‘ πππ” by Raymond Pun](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Francis-Fukuyama.-In-the-Realm-of-the-Last-Man-A-Memoir-.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βThe Politics of Smallness and the Power of Cute in Hui Faye Xiaoβs Youth Economy, Crisis, and Reinvention in Twenty-First Century Chinaβ by GΓ©raldine Fiss Hui Faye Xiao. Youth Economy,…
![[ESSAY] βThe Politics of Smallness and the Power of Cute in Hui Faye Xiaoβs πππ’π‘β πΈππππππ¦, πΆπππ ππ , πππ π
ππππ£πππ‘πππ ππ ππ€πππ‘π¦-πΉπππ π‘ πΆπππ‘π’ππ¦ πΆβπππβ by GΓ©raldine Fiss](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/China-Dream.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βGhost in the Shellphone: TxT and the Rarity of Filipino Techno-horrorβby William Carlo Antonio Sanchez Mike Tuviera (director). TxT, 2006, 114 min. For a country so chronically online and so…
![[REVIEW] βGhost in the Shellπβπππ: ππ₯π and the Rarity of Filipino Techno-horrorβby William Carlo Antonio Sanchez](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Mike-Tuviera-director.-TxT.jpeg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “The Metaphor of Trees: Stephanie Ellen Sy’s The Magnificent Banyan Tree and the Green Tong Lau” by Rebekah Chan Stephanie Ellen Sy (writer), Ishita Jain (illustrator). The Magnificent Banyan Tree…
![[ESSAY] “The Metaphor of Trees: Stephanie Ellen Sy’s πβπ πππππππππππ‘ π΅πππ¦ππ ππππ πππ π‘βπ πΊππππ ππππ πΏππ’” by Rebekah Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Seed-Plant-Tree-3.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βForms of Drift: Displacement and Its Antidotes in Mai-Linh Hongβs Continental Driftβ by Kai Hang Cheang Click HERE to read all entrieson Continental Drift. Mai-Linh Hong. Continental Drift, Trio House…
![[REVIEW] βForms of Drift: Displacement and Its Antidotes in Mai-Linh Hongβs πΆπππ‘πππππ‘ππ π·ππππ‘β by Kai Hang Cheang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/mai-linh-hong.-continental-drift.webp)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “The Authority to Continue in Kiwi Chow’s Deadline” by Qinlei Wang Kiwi Chow (director). Deadline, 2025. 117 min. By the time a teacher proposes suspending the final examinations at Enshan…
![[ESSAY] “The Authority to Continue in Kiwi Chow’s π·πππππππ” by Qinlei Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Kiwi-Chow-copy.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Literature in the Age of Information: Anatoly Detwyler’s Seeing Through Abstraction” by Julie Xinzhu Chen Anatoly Detwyler. Seeing Through Abstraction: Literary Encounters with Information in Modern China, Columbia University Press,…
![[REVIEW] “Literature in the Age of Information: Anatoly Detwyler’s ππππππ πβπππ’πβ π΄ππ π‘ππππ‘πππ” by Julie Xinzhu Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Encounters-with-Information-in-Modern-China.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “The Dead Are Still Addressing Us: On Jeremy Fernandoβs translating love“ by Tyran Grillo Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon translating love. Jeremy Fernando (author), with paintings by Sara…
![[ESSAY] “The Dead Are Still Addressing Us: On Jeremy Fernando’s π‘ππππ πππ‘πππ πππ£π” by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Translating-Love-Jeremy-Fernando.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βListening to the Ghosts of Writing: On Jeremy Fernandoβs translating loveβ by Anders KΓΈlle Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon translating love. Jeremy Fernando (author), with paintings by…
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[INCIDENTAL] βThe Ties That Bind Us: Listening to Catherine Cho on The Devoted and Hong Kongβ by Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley Catherine Cho. The Devoted. Fourth Estate, 2026. 368 pp. Listening to Catherine Cho speak about The Devoted on 2 October 2026 at this yearβs Lincoln…
![[INCIDENTAL] βThe Ties That Bind Us: Listening to Catherine Cho onΒ πβπ π·ππ£ππ‘ππΒ and Hong Kongβ by Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/7101dHH2ZvL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Debts No Ledger Can Settle: Memory and Obligation in Diana Hongchaβs If You Donβt Go” by David M. Brown Diana Hongcha. If You Donβt Go, Amethyst Hill Publishing, 2025. 370…
![[REVIEW] “Debts No Ledger Can Settle: Memory and Obligation in Diana Hongchaβs πΌπ πππ’ π·ππβπ‘ πΊπ” by David M. Brown](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/https-www.dianahongcha.com_.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “More Is Less: Cinco in the World of Anthology Horror” by William Carlo Antonio Sanchez Cinco, 2010. 148 mins. β Frasco Mortiz (director). Braso/Arm.β Enrico Santos (director). Paa/Feet.β Ato Bautista (director). Mata/Eyes.β…
![[REVIEW] “More is Less: πΆππππ in the World of Anthology Horror” by William Carlo Antonio Sanchez](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/cinco1.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βTokyo Drift: Mobility of Excess, Geopolitical Imaginaries, and Japan-US Relations in the 2000sβ by John Adrianfer Atienza Justin Lin (director). The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, 2006. 104 min.…
![[ESSAY] “ππππ¦π π·ππππ‘: Mobility of Excess, Geopolitical Imaginaries, and Japan-US Relations in the 2000s” by John Adrianfer Atienza](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Justin-Lin-director.-The-Fast-and-the-Furious-Tokyo-Drift-2006.jpeg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Unsold Peonies: Rediscovering the Voice of Courtesan, Nun, and Poet Yu Xuanji in Lucas Kleinβs Translation” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Hiding in Caverns.…
![[REVIEW] “Unsold Peonies: Rediscovering the Voice of Courtesan, Nun, and Poet Yu Xuanji in Lucas Kleinβs Translation” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Lucas-Klein-1.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βGigi L. Leungβs Everyday Movement: Momentum within Momentsβ by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement, Riverhead Books. 2026.…
![[ESSAY] βGigi L. Leungβs πΈπ£πππ¦πππ¦ πππ£πππππ‘: Momentum within Momentsβ by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/everyday-movement-by-gigi-l.-leung-translated-by-jennifer-feeley-.jpg)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s If I Do Not Reply Is Poetry, Gentle Irony and Defiance” by Cyril Camus Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on If I Do Not Reply. Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, If…
![[ESSAY] “Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s πΌπ πΌ π·π πππ‘ π
ππππ¦ Is Poetry, Gentle Irony and Defiance” by Cyril Camus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/tammy-lai-ming-ho-2026-1.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βTenderness Persists Amidst Looming Displacement in When Heaven Inched Towards Earthβ by Lorence Lozano Vinh Marco Tumang (director). When Heaven Inched Towards Earth, 2026. 20 min. Cinepanalo has gone theme-free this year,…
![[REVIEW] βTenderness Persists Amidst Looming Displacement inΒ πβππ π»πππ£ππ πΌππβππ πππ€ππππ πΈπππ‘ββ by Lorence Lozano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-28-at-07.38.22.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βThe Violence of Being Understood: Rio Shimamotoβs First Loveβ by Tyran Grillo Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon First Love. Rio Shimamoto (author), Louise Heal Kawai (translator). First Love. Honford…
![[ESSAY] βThe Violence of Being Understood: Rio ShimamotoβsΒ πΉπππ π‘ πΏππ£πβ by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Rio-Shimamoto-First-Love.png)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Green Trojan Horses: Trees, Power, and the Chinese State in Cheng Li’s Contested Environmentalisms” by Jennifer Eagleton Cheng Li. Contested Environmentalisms: Trees and the Making of Modern China. Stanford University…
![[REVIEW] “Green Trojan Horses: Trees, Power, and the Chinese State in Cheng Li’s πΆπππ‘ππ π‘ππ πΈππ£ππππππππ‘ππππ ππ ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/contested.png)