Category: Exclusive—Reflection
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[ESSAY] “No Moral at Its End” by Matt Reeck Also read Matt Reeck’s story “Three Travelling Portraits: India”. When I wrote “Three Travelling Portraits,” I was interested in depicting some of the sexual tension that I had experienced and witnessed…
![[ESSAY] “No Moral at Its End” by Matt Reeck](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/screenshot-2026-07-10-at-19.06.38.png?w=850)
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[ESSAY] “The Internet Cafe That Died During The Pandemic” by Laurehl Onyx B. Cabiles There was a well-known internet café in our municipality. Like all other small businesses, it was located at our public terminal since there were no complex…
![[ESSAY] “The Internet Cafe That Died During The Pandemic” by Laurehl Onyx B. Cabiles](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/screenshot-2026-07-11-at-11.40.29.png?w=824)
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[INCIDENTAL] “Bear, Boar, Monkey, Mouse, and Cat” by Marsha McDonald Bear © Dima Solomin and Marsha McDonald I am returning this year to Japan for a month mid-November, staying near Osaka, and visiting friends, doing my creative work. I will…
![[INCIDENTAL] “Bear, Boar, Monkey, Mouse, and Cat” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/screenshot-2026-07-11-at-14.09.19.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Into the Heart of Darkness in Rudraneil Sengupta’s The Beast Within and Nilanjana S. Roy’s Black River” by Rituparna Mukherjee 🌸 Rudraneil Sengupta. The Beast Within, Context, 2025. 352 pgs.🌸…
![[ESSAY] “Into the Heart of Darkness in Rudraneil Sengupta’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 and Nilanjana S. Roy’s 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟” by Rituparna Mukherjee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/rudraneil-sengupta.-the-beast-within-context-2025.-352-pgs.-nilanjana-s.-roy.-black-river-pushkin-vertigo-2024.-368-pgs.png?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “Liner Notes” by Jeremiah Dutch Also read Jeremiah Dutch’s story “Cool Jazz at the Dragonfly Club”. “Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can’t understand it. It’s too complicated. That’s what’s so simple about it.” —Attributed to Yogi Berra…
![[ESSAY] “Liner Notes” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/liner-notes-jeremiah-dutch.png?w=864)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Finding My Own Silent Friends: From the Botanical Garden to Hong Kong’s Streets” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon SILENT FRIEND. Ildikó Enyedi (director), Silent…
![[ESSAY] “Finding My Own Silent Friends: From the Botanical Garden to Hong Kong’s Streets” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.42.17.png?w=824)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “What Lingers: On Babitha Marina Justin’s The Way Madmen Smell” by Ankush Banerjee Babitha Marina Justin. The Way Madmen Smell, Red River Press, 2026. 149 pgs. Noted Trivandrum-based academic, poet,…
![[ESSAY] “What Lingers: On Babitha Marina Justin’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑆𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙” by Ankush Banerjee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/the-way-madmen-smell-by-babitha-marina-justin-.jpg?w=868)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Simmering, Steaming, Spilling: On Hongwei Bao’s Queer Playtext Hot Pot” by Ronny Chan Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Hot Pot. Hongwei Bao. Hot Pot, Poetic Edge Publishers, 2026. 112 pgs. “To…
![[ESSAY] “Simmering, Steaming, Spilling: On Hongwei Bao’s Queer Playtext 𝐻𝑜𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑡” by Ronny Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/hongwei-bao.-hot-pot-poetic-edge-publishers-2026.-112-pgs.png?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “Hot Pot: A Queer East Asian Play About A Meal, Four Friends and What Remains Unsaid” by Hongwei Bao Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Hot Pot. Hongwei Bao (playwright). Hot Pot: A Queer East Asian Play About A Meal, Four…
![[ESSAY] “𝐻𝑜𝑡 𝑃𝑜𝑡: A Queer East Asian Play About A Meal, Four Friends and What Remains Unsaid” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/hot-pot-poster-square-with-title.jpg?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “Memory and Music: Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Michael Raymond The first time I ever heard Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” I was watching the music video through a mosquito net late at night. Just me and the dim,…
![[ESSAY] “Memory and Music: Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Michael Raymond](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/screenshot-2026-05-27-at-20.06.27.png?w=1024)
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Yi-Ling Liu’s Portrait of China’s Digital Dissidents in The Wall Dancers” by Johanna M. Costigan Yi-Ling Liu. The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet, Knopf, 2026,…
![[ESSAY] “Yi-Ling Liu’s Portrait of China’s Digital Dissidents in 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑠” by Johanna M. Costigan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/wall-dancers.jpg?w=987)
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[ESSAY] “Of Elephants and Peoples” by Aishwarya Narayanan Image Periyar Tiger Reserve is located in the South-Western Ghats of India, administratively falling under the Idukki, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta districts of Kerala. Encompassing 925 kilometres of protected wilderness, the Reserve is…
![[ESSAY] “Of Elephants and Peoples” by Aishwarya Narayanan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/elephants-https-periyartigerreserve.org_.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In this essay, Chris Song reflects on debates in Hong Kong’s Sinophone literary field since the 2019 Biennial Awards, where tensions between everyday poetics and politically engaged writing surfaced. He shows how prizes, criticism, and institutions shape poetic…
![[ESSAY] “Poetics Debates and the Shadow of Power in Hong Kong’s Sinophone Literary Field” by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/poetics-debates-and-the-shadow-of-power-in-hong-kongs-sinophone-literary-field.png?w=786)
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[ESSAY] “Assemblage of/as Faith: Max Balatbat Reimagines the Sacred in ‘Sampalataya’” by Jose P. Mojica When one imagines the church, certain images come to mind. Mannerist-style paintings of the Stations of the Cross hang on tiled walls. Sunrays brim with…
![[ESSAY] “Assemblage of/as Faith: Max Balatbat Reimagines the Sacred in ‘Sampalataya'” by Jose P. Mojica](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/sampalataya-max-balatbat.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: We are delighted to present an essay by the distinguished translator Howard Goldblatt, whose work has been instrumental in introducing modern Chinese fiction to English-speaking readers. In his essay, Goldblatt reflects on his translation of Liang Xiaosheng’s My…
![[MY DESTINY] “Me and 𝑀𝑦 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑦” by Howard Goldblatt](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/howard-goldblatt-my-destiny-and-me-for-cha.png?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] “Meeting the Moment: The Intimacy of LingJiun Wang’s Photography” by Julia Merican In Passing (2019 – present) I am looking at a photograph by LingJiun Wang. In it, a woman lies on a dark rug, which in turn rests…
![[ESSAY] “Meeting the Moment: The Intimacy of LingJiun Wang’s Photography” by Julia Merican](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/in-passing-2019-present.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: We are delighted to present Akin Jeje’s vivid essay tracing the evolution of Peel Street Poetry, a Hong Kong-based, community-driven collective that grew from informal bar gatherings into a dynamic literary force. This essay serves as a shorter…
![[ESSAY] “A History of Peel Street Poetry” by Akin Jeje](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/images.png?w=225)
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Editor’s note: Through a sequence of transient homes across Singapore and Malaysia, Sia Ling Ee’s essay “To All the Homes I’d Known Before” traces a childhood shaped by precarity, familial strain, and longing for stability. Contrasted with her husband’s rooted…
![[ESSAY] “To All the Homes I’d Known Before” by Sia Ling Ee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pic-1-amk-rental-flat.jpeg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Qinxian Bonnie Ran’s essay examines Amitav Ghosh’s incorporation of Cantonese into English in River of Smoke. She argues that the novel’s multilingual Fanqui City creates a space where economic…
![[ESSAY] “Canton and Cantonese in Amitav Ghosh’s 𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑚𝑜𝑘𝑒” by Qinxian Bonnie Ran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/river-of-smoke_cha.jpg?w=990)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Sleep, Baby, Oh Don’t You Sleep: Thailand’s Northeast in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour and Thunska Pansittivorakul’s Isan Odyssey” by Peixuan Xie ❀ Apichatpong Weerasethakul (director), Cemetery of Splendour, 2015.…
![[ESSAY] “Sleep, Baby, Oh Don’t You Sleep: Thailand’s Northeast in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 𝐶𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑟 and Thunska Pansittivorakul’s 𝐼𝑠𝑎𝑛 𝑂𝑑𝑦𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑦” by Peixuan Xie](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/apichatpong-weerasethakuls-cemetery-of-splendour-and-thunska-pansittivorakuls-isan-odyssey.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “We Are What We Read: Reading Zheng Liu’s Cultural Mavericks” by X. H. Collins Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Cultural Mavericks. Zheng Liu, Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of…
![[ESSAY] “We Are What We Read: Reading Zheng Liu’s 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑠” by X. H. Collins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cultural-mavericks-the-business-and-politics-of-independent-bookselling-in-china.jpg?w=971)
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[ESSAY] “Lost and Found in Languages” by Qinxian Bonnie Ran Photo by Peicen Yan The Failure of Poetry Ma, I read a poem today: —the walls have been mortared with grief, dark enoughTo make blindness as a gift—we don’t have…
![[ESSAY] “Lost and Found in Languages” by Qinxian Bonnie Ran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/yan7.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Poetry as Archive: Creativity, Political Commitment, and the Everyday in Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s If I Do Not Reply” by Hannah Steurer Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on If I Do Not Reply.…
![[ESSAY] “Poetry as Archive: Creativity, Political Commitment, and the Everyday in Tammy Lai-Ming Ho’s 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝐷𝑜 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦” by Hannah Steurer](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/if-i-do-not-reply_tammy-ho.jpg?w=907)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Ghostly Formations and Queer Futures: On Queer Southeast Asia” by Charlotte Marie Chadwick Shawna Tang and Hendri Yulius Wijaya (editors). Queer Southeast Asia, Routledge. 2022. 296 pgs. Queer Southeast Asia,…
![[ESSAY] “Ghostly Formations and Queer Futures: On 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎” by Charlotte Marie Chadwick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/queer-southeast-asia-edited-by-shawna-tang-hendri-yulius-wijaya-copyright-2023.jpg?w=1000)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Jason S Polley opens his review essay by recounting his fond and fervent championing of Kit Fan’s first novel, Diamond Hill (2021), whose Cantonese-inflected language enabled rare intergenerational and…
![[ESSAY] “𝑍𝑜𝑖 𝐺𝑖𝑛 Canton: Reading Kit Fan’s 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑏𝑦𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛” by Jason S Polley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/goodbye-chinatown-kit-fan-cha.jpg?w=938)
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[ESSAY] “In Another Life, I Might Not Be A Better Self” by Lei Wang Miss Universe by John Doe If not for COVID, I would have moved back to China after my MFA, rather than remaining in Iowa. Instead of…
![[ESSAY] “In Another Life, I Might Not Be A Better Self” by Lei Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/lei-wang-for-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.jpeg?w=275)
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[ESSAY] “Hong Kong: Once in a Million Years” by Simon Patton Owen Chow 鄒家成 and his tatoo Between 2019 and 2021, Hong Kong was repeatedly in the international spotlight. A decisive clash between civilisations was the main reason for such…
![[ESSAY] “Hong Kong: Once in a Million Years” by Simon Patton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/718kdzhcgql._ac_uf10001000_ql80_.jpg?w=895)
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Editor’s note: Elaine Tsai’s essay traces Taiwan’s layered history before turning to Ghost Month, whose rituals of burning joss paper and offering food shape her childhood summers. These practices lead into reflections on ancestor worship, her father’s death, and beliefs…
![[ESSAY] “Ghost Month and the Afterlife” by Elaine Tsai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-religious-painting-unprovoked-dead-ghosts.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Julien Pieron’s essay examines Sophie Houdart’s Ce territoire qui, comme une pulsation… (Éditions des mondes à faire, 2026), an ethnographic study of post-Fukushima life in Tōwa that portrays a world where catastrophe persists as an unclosed present. Through…
![[ESSAY] “Life in the Persistence of Fukushima: Sophie Houdart’s 𝐶𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛…” by Julien Pieron](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/maf_houdart_scan_01-resp2880.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s Note: “Digital Distances: Social Media, Intergenerational Conflict, and Female Visibility in Contemporary China” is the third in a series of three essays, together entitled “Glimpsing the Other Shore: Distance, Difference, and the Feminist Gaze in Contemporary Chinese Women’s Writing”,…
![[ESSAY] “Digital Distances: Social Media, Intergenerational Conflict, & Female Visibility in Contemporary China” by Caterina Petroselli](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/distances3.jpg?w=593)
Cha 