Category: Cha Review of Books and Films
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π Return to First Impressionsπ Return to Cha Review of Books and Films Rin Ishigaki (author), Janine Beichman (translator), and Paul Rossiter (editor), This Overflowing Light: Selected Poems, with an introduction by Janine Beichman, Isobar Press, 2022. 118 pgs. When…
![[REVIEW] βRin Ishigakiβs Poetry as Resilienceβ by Nadine Willems](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/the-overflowing-light-1.jpg?w=653)
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π Return to First Impressionsπ Return to Cha Review of Books and Films Gish Jen, Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories, Alfred A Knopf, 2022. 272 pgs. βA beautiful country full of beautiful coats, what could that be but evil?β ponders…
![[REVIEW] βLaughter of the Displaced: A Review of Gish Jenβs πβπππ πππ’, ππ. πππ₯ππβ by Emma H. Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/thank-you-mr-nixon-gish-jen.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βWhat Does It Mean to Be a Feminist in China? Reviewing Feminisms with Chinese Characteristicsβ by X. H. Collins Ping Zhu and Hui Faye Xiao (editors), Feminisms with Chinese Characteristics, Syracuse…
![[ESSAY] βWhat Does It Mean to Be a Feminist in China? Reviewing πΉππππππ ππ Β π€ππ‘β πΆβππππ π πΆβπππππ‘ππππ π‘πππ β by X. H. Collins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/feminists_chinese-characteristics.png?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 Strange Beasts. Yan Ge (author) and Jeremy Tiang (translator), Strange Beasts of China, Tilted Axis Press, 2020. 314 pgs. My previous Cha review of a Chinese…
![[REVIEW] βππ‘πππππ π΅πππ π‘π ππ πΆβπππ: Harnessing πβπππ’ππ and Magic Realism to Satirise Otheringβ by Cyril Camus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/strangebeastsofchinav3ccorrected_v3c-copy.jpg?w=668)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Philip Bowring. The Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a Jigsaw State, Bloomsbury, 2022. 272 pgs. The thing with a jigsaw puzzle is it is a mental pursuit of completion; that somebody shuffles…
![[REVIEW] βSifting Through The Rubble: Reading Philip Bowringβs πβπ ππππππ ππ ππππππ πβπππππππππ β by Jose Santos P. Ardivilla](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/the-making-of-the-modern-philippines-1.jpeg?w=568)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Against the backdrop of ongoing wars and climate crisis, I found myself reading Daryl Lim Wei Jieβs Anything but Human, Gwee Li Suiβs This Floating World, and Heng Siok Tianβs Grandmaβs Attic,…
![[REVIEW] βToying With Lost Time: A Review of Three Poetry Collections from Landmark Booksβ by Cheng Tim Tim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/landmark-books.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Giving a Voice to Those With None: Karen Ma’s China’s Millennial Digital Generation” by X. H. Collins Karen Ma. Chinaβs Millennial Digital Generation: Conversations with Balinghou (Post-1980s) Indie Filmmakers, Long…
![[ESSAY] “Giving a Voice to Those With None: Karen Ma’s πΆβπππ’π ππππππππππ π·ππππ‘ππ πΊππππππ‘πππ” by X. H. Collins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/chinas-millennial-digital-generation-conversations-with-balinghou-post-1980s-indie-filmmakers-1.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Wesley Leon Aroozoo. The Punkhawala and the Prostitute, Epigram, 2021. 352 pgs. A finalist of Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2021, Wesley Leon Aroozooβs The Punkhawala and the Prostitute tells the tale of…
![[REVIEW] “Quintessential Singlit? Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s πβπ ππ’ππβππ€πππ πππ π‘βπ ππππ π‘ππ‘π’π‘πβ by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/wesley-leon-aroozoos-the-punkhawala-and-the-prostitute.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Nabina Das (translator), Alam Khorshed (curator), Arise out of the Lock: 50 Bangladeshi Women Poets in English, Balestier Press, 2022. 176 pgs. Arise Out of the Lock is a poetry collection by…
![[REVIEW] βπ΄πππ π ππ’π‘ ππ π‘βπ πΏπππ: On Resistance, Connection, and Enchantmentβ by Sharyn Phu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/arise-out-of-the-lock.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Maghiel van Crevel and Lucas Klein, eds., Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs, Amsterdam University Press, 2019. 356 pgs. In a previous article about how late 20th/early 21st-century British and American…
![[REVIEW] “πΆβππππ π ππππ‘ππ¦ πππ πππππ πππ‘πππ: A Multi-Angled Overview of What Happens When Worlds Collideβ by Cyril Camus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/chinese-poetry-and-translation-lucas-klein-.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Perhat Tursun (author), Darren Byler and Anonymous (translators), The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang, Columbia University Press, 2022. 168 pgs. A man leaves an office in ΓrΓΌmqi, and starts walking. The sun…
![[REVIEW] “A Psychoanalytical Auto-fictional Biography of a City: Perhat Tursun’s πβπ π΅ππππ π‘ππππ‘π ” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/the-backstreets-perhat-tursun.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Indelible City. Louisa Lim, Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, Text Publishing Melbourne Australia, 2022. 306 pgs. Louisa Limβs 2022 book Indelible City:…
![[REVIEW] “Beyond Birth, Blood, and Soil: Reading Louisa Limβs πΌππππππππ πΆππ‘𦔠by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/indelible-city-louisa-lim-1.jpg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Monika Gaenssbauer and Nicholas Olczak (editors). Of Forests and Humans: Hong Kong Contemporary Short Fiction. Edition Cathay, vol. 74, Bochum, Projekt Verlag, 2019. 126 pgs. In Of Forests and Humans, Monika Gaenssbauer…
![[REVIEW] βStories Grow in Hong Kong: A Review of ππ πΉππππ π‘π πππ π»π’ππππ β by Astrid MΓΈller-Olsen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/of-forests-and-humans-1.jpg?w=519)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Phoebe Tsang, Setting Fire to Water. Thistledown Press, 2022. 220 pgs. Phoebe Tsangβs short story collection Setting Fire to Water is a delightful debut that transforms seemingly prosaic lives and events into…
![[REVIEW] “Dream-like Reality: Phoebe Tsang’s πππ‘π‘πππ πΉπππ π‘π πππ‘ππ” by Aerith Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/fire-to-water_phoebe-tsang.png?w=1024)
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Duo Duo (author), Lucas Klein (translator and editor), Words as Grain (Yale University Press, 2021. 280 pgs.Β A farmer went out to sow his seed.Β As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and…
![[REVIEW] βA Parable of the Eccentric Sower: Duo Duoβs πππππ ππ πΊππππβ by Joanna Krenz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/duo-duo_words-as-grain_lucas-klein.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Annika A. Culver and Norman Smith (editors), Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approach to Literary Production, Hong Kong University Press, 2020. Miserable human mouths are born on each ink drop. The paper gets crowded…
![[REVIEW] “The Buried Past Revealed: Reading ππππβπ’ππ’π ππππ ππππ‘ππ£ππ β by Yu MΓΌller](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/manchukuo-perspectives-transnational-approach-to-literary-production-hong-kong-university-press.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} {This review is cross-posted on Agora.} Donald Keene and Shiba RyΕtarΕ (authors), Tony Gonzalez (translator), Edo Japan Encounters the World: Conversations Between Donald Keene and Shiba Ryotaro, Japan Library, 2018. 137 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] βAn Intellectual Exchange: A Review of πΈππ π½ππππ πΈππππ’ππ‘πππ π‘βπ πππππβ by James Kin Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/edo-japan-encounters-the-world-conversations-between-donald-keene-and-shiba-ryotaro.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} β Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Rain in Plural, Princeton University Press, 2020. 120 pgs.β Yin Lichuan (author), Fiona Sze-Lorrain (translator), Karma, Tolsun Books, 2020. 222 pgs.β Ye Lijun (author), Fiona Sze-Lorrain (translator), My Mountain…
![[REVIEW] “Fiona Sze-Lorrain: Poetry and Translations” by Elizabeth Chung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/fiona-sze-lorrain-7.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Not Written Words. Xi Xi (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Not Written Words, Zephyr Press and MCCM Creations, 2016. 152 pgs. . βWhen I grow up,β writes…
![[REVIEW] “Quietly Radical: Xi Xi’s πππ‘ ππππ‘π‘ππ πππππ ” by Kyle Muntz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/not-a-written-words_xi-xi.png?w=758)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Yeng Pway Ngon (author), Natascha Bruce (translator), Lonely Face, Balestier Press, 2019. 152 pgs. Yeng Pway Ngonβs novella Lonely Face, translated into English by Natascha Bruce, relates an unnamed middle-aged manβs reflections on his…
![[REVIEW] βExistential Capsules and Cusps in Yeng Pway Ngonβs πΏπππππ¦ πΉπππβ by Frances An](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lonely_face-1-1.jpeg?w=902)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Liang Luo, The Global White Snake, University of Michigan Press, 2021. 373 pgs. βNo culture can be fully understood in isolation,β writes Liang Luo in the introduction to her book The Global…
![[REVIEW] “Culture Is That Which Appropriates: A Review of Liang Luo’s πβπ πΊπππππ πβππ‘π πππππ” by Noah Arthur Weber](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/the-global-white-snake-1.jpeg?w=667)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Liu Xinwu (author), Jeremy Tiang (translator), The Wedding Party, Amazon Crossing, 2021. 400 pgs. Time is a recurring theme in Liu Xinwuβs novel, The Wedding Party, recently translated from the Chinese into English…
![[REVIEW] “A Rich Tapestry for Tomorrowβs Beijingers: A Review of πβπ πππππππ ππππ‘𦔠by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/theweddingparty-1.jpeg?w=700)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Mang Ke (author), Lucas Klein, Huang Yibing and Jonathan Stalling (translators), October Dedications: Selected Poetry of Mang Ke, Zephyr Press, 2018. 152 pgs. This summer, all five floors of the National Art…
![[REVIEW] “Shockingly Direct and Heterodox: Mang Ke’s πππ‘ππππ π·ππππππ‘ππππ ” by David Harrison Horton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/october-dedications_mang-ke.png?w=994)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Takashina ShΕ«ji (author), Matt Treyvaud (translator), Japanese Art in Perspective: East-West Encounters, Japan Library, 2021. 191 pgs. An amateur of Japanese art might have heard about ukiyo-e (or floating painting), as well…
![[REVIEW] “(Re)formation of Ideas: π½ππππππ π π΄ππ‘ ππ ππππ ππππ‘ππ£π” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/japanese-art-in-perspective-east-west-encounters.jpeg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Artist and author Fiona Hawthorne grew up in Hong Kong and much of her work is informed by her childhood, including two new books out this year: Drawing on the Inside: Kowloon…
![[REVIEW] “Fiona Hawthorne and Kowloon Walled City” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/fiona-hawthorne.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Tahi Saihate (author) and Kalau Almony (translator), Astral Season, Beastly Season, Honford Star, 2021. 144 pgs. Tahi Saihate’s Astral Season, Beastly Season, translated from the Japanese by Kalau Almony, is an odd, beautiful,…
![[REVIEW] βRoughness of Thought: A Review of Tahi Saihate’s π΄π π‘πππ ππππ ππ, π΅πππ π‘ππ¦ ππππ ππβ by Maks Sipowicz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/astral-season-beastly-season-tahi-saihate-translated-by-kalau-almony.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “A Historically Cosmopolitan, Mixed Culture: Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s World of Tang China” by Jeff Tompkins Peng Hsiao-yen (editor), The Assassin: Hou Hsiao-hsienβs World of Tang China, Hong Kong University Press, 2019.…
![[REVIEW] “A Historically Cosmopolitan, Mixed Culture: π»ππ’ π»π πππ-π»π πππβπ πππππ ππ ππππ πΆβπππβ by Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/the-assassin.jpeg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ on Liu Yichang.ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ on John Minford. John Minford (general editor), Hong Kong Literature Series, The Chinese University Press, 2020. If the library was on fire…
![[REVIEW] “We Shall Have to Learn How to Live with Ghosts: A Review of John Minford’s π»πππ πΎπππ πΏππ‘ππππ‘π’ππ ππππππ ” by Douglas Kerr](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/hong-kong-literature-series-1.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Nicholas Wong, Besiege Me, Noemi Press, 2021. 88 pgs. Besiege Me (Noemi Press, 2021) is a new poetry collection by the award-winning Anglophone Hong Kong poet Nicholas Wong. The title is apt…
![[REVIEW] βThe Desire to Be Free and the Desire to Be Good: Nicholas Wongβs π΅ππ ππππ ππβ by Liam Blackford](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/besiege-me_nicholas-wong-1.jpeg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Duo Duo (author), Lucas Klein (translator), Words as Grain: New and Selected Poems. Yale University Press, 2021. 246 pgs. What follows can only be read as an impressionistic fleeting encounter between a…
![[REVIEW] “Myriad Powers of Words: Duo Duo’s πππππ ππ πΊππππ” by Liang Luo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/words-as-grain_lucas-klein_duo-duo.png?w=1024)
Cha 