Category: Exclusive
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Editor’s note: In “When Everything Becomes a ‘Gender Issue’ in Asia”, Zheng Wang argues that across Asia, public debate often compresses diverse injustices into the single language of gender. While this framework can demand justice, it also displaces other issuesโclass,…
![[ESSAY] “When Everything Becomes a ‘Gender Issue’ in Asia” by Zheng Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/markus-winkler-y6uhsowdivs-unsplash.jpg?w=1024)
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Chris Songโs Note: Selected from Hong Kong author Lok Fungโs acclaimed short story collection The Charred City, โA Wayward Wisdom Toothโ recounts the tale of Shevon Kam, a driven beauty executive who endures a decade-long struggle with a decaying wisdom toothโa…
![[TRANSLATION] “A Wayward Wisdom Tooth” by Lok Fung, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/alireza-heidarpour-46cfxprdjni-unsplash.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Emma Zhang reflects on her shifting identity as a language teacher in an age when machine translation threatens the role of English as a bridge to the world. Seeking cultural understanding, she visits Talibรฉ, an exhibition by Mauritanian…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฬ: The Forgotten Faces of Globalisationโ by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/e07c3432-3e50-439d-b428-1c00cf25c682.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In “Twist of Fate: When Writers Are Better Recognised for Their Images”, Thammika Songkaeo, author of Stamford Hospital (Penguin Random House SEA, 2025; reviewed in Cha), offers a thoughtful reflection on how contemporary publicity privileges appearance, exoticism, and…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Twist of Fate: When Writers are Better Recognised for their Images” by Thammika Songkaeo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/banner-size.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In “Noodle Insurrection or a Gathering of Radicals”, Jennifer Eagleton intertwines Chinese character radicals with politics, crafting a witty poem around Shaanxiโs biangbiang noodles. She blends linguistic play, cultural history, and insurrectionary imagery, demonstrating radicalsโ layered meanings. A…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โNoodle Insurrection or a Gathering of Radicalsโ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/biang-biang.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Editor’s note: Gauri Yadav’s review essay explores Sumana Royโs How I Became a Tree as an ecofeminist, genre-defying work that reimagines autobiography through plant life. Blending personal narrative,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โSumana Royโs ๐ป๐๐ค ๐ผ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐: Autobiography as Ecofeminist Manifestoโ by Gauri Yadav](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/sumana-roy-how-i-became-a-tree-.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In his reflection “A Slower Mode of Time”, Chris Sullivan contrasts urban haste with natureโs unhurried rhythms, weaving cicadas, childhood memories, and captive flamingos into a meditation on suspended instincts, looping time, and the quiet grace of slower…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โA Slower Mode of Timeโ by Chris Sullivan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/a-slower-mode-of-time-chris-sullivan.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Cuiyu Lin’s “Broken English, Sweet Oranges” is a lyrical meditation on language, fragility, and repair, weaving Chinese porcelain mending with personal scars to reveal brokenness as both burden and beauty, and imperfection as a vessel for truth. The…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Broken English, Sweet Oranges” by Cuiyu Lin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/karolina-grabowska.png?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] โAs If Present; As If Absent: Fang Fangโs Wuhanโ by Angus Stewart Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Fang Fang. Editor’s note: In this eloquent and incisive…
![[ESSAY] โAs If Present; As If Absent: Fang Fangโs Wuhanโ by Angus Stewart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/fang-fang.jpg?w=976)
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Editor’s note: Lydia Wongโs evocative essay explores salt as both a material and metaphorical force in Hong Kongโs cultural, political, and sensual identity. From ancient salt fields to contemporary political repression, she traces how salt symbolises preservation, resistance, and longing.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โSALTY WET ้นนๆฟโ by Lydia Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/salted-fish_peng-chau_december-2019_oliver-farry.jpg?w=1024)
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[ESSAY] โPseudo-Resistance and Ethical Beauty: A Critique of South Korean and Japanese Cinematic Aestheticsโ by Zheng Wang In the narrative context of East Asian visual media, both South Korean and Japanese films and television series excel at exposing the darker…
![[ESSAY] โPseudo-Resistance and Ethical Beauty: A Critique of South Korean and Japanese Cinematic Aestheticsโ by Zheng Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/8331752405576_.pic_.png?w=610)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Masaki Kobayashi (director), Kwaidan, 1964. 175 min. Maโa profound Japanese concept that encapsulates the essence of stillness. The term refers to the empty spaces in between, a fleeting suspension…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โ๐พ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐: Horror and Folklore as an Art Formโ by Tushi Gogoi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/kwaidan.jpg?w=570)
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Chris Song and Simona Gallo Dwelling in Tonguesโ Part Iโ”Hong Kong & Poetry”โ Part IIโ”A Translingual Self and The Art of Self-Translation” Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series of interview entitled “Dwelling in Tongues: A Conversation…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Translingual Self & The Art of Self-Translation” by Simona Gallo and Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/simona-gallo-and-chris-song.png?w=1024)
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Chris Song and Simona Gallo Dwelling in Tonguesโ Part Iโ”Hong Kong & Poetry”โ Part IIโ”A Translingual Self: The Art of Self-Translation” Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series of interview entitled “Dwelling in Tongues: A Conversation on…
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Jacqueline Leung’s note: โๆๅฏฆๅพฎๆบซ,โ pronounced โgwo sud mei wun,โ translates literally from Cantonese as โwarm fruitโ and phonetically echoes โgrocery run.โ When Stuart Lau Wai-shing attended the Iowa International Writing Program in 2017, a bus would arrive each Tuesday morning, ferrying…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Warm Fruit” by Stuart Lau, translated by Jacqueline Leung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/stuart-lau_jacqueline-leung_cha.png?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] โSix Questions about the SixโSteven Schwankertโs The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic’s Chinese Survivorsโ by Ryan Ho Kilpatrick Steven Schwankert, The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic’s…
![[INTERVIEW] โSix Questions about the SixโSteven Schwankertโs ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ: ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐ถโ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ โ by Ryan Ho Kilpatrick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/steven-schwankert-the-six-the-untold-story-of-the-titanics-chinese-survivors-1.jpg?w=988)
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Japanese cinema has long been a vanguard of distinctive stylistic choices, particularly in the realm of horror. J-horror eschews gratuitous special effects in favour of an atmospheric approach that meticulously cultivates suspense, delivering an experience that is profoundly unsettling. Ringu…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โBefore J-Horror: The Paranormal in Ancient Japanese Writingโ by Tushi Gogoi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/a-traditional-japanese-emaki-scroll-scene-depicting-a-22hyakkiyagyo22-.png?w=1024)
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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [ESSAY] โGhost Month and the Afterlifeโ by Elaine Tsai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-religious-painting-unprovoked-dead-ghosts.png?w=1024)
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Russell Leong on these poems: Like apparitions or long-lost friends, these three unpublished poemsโwritten more than twenty years ago in New London, Connecticut; Cuse, France; and Hong Kong, Chinaโhave returned to me through the efforts of editor Tammy Lai-Ming Ho.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Three Poems by Russell Leong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/three-poems-by-russell-leong.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS For Gab Angeles, who lent me the book. Natsume Sลseki (author), Meredith McKinney (translator), Kokoro, Penguin Classics, 2010. 256 pgs. Kokoro is the final novel written by Natsume Sลseki.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โThe Virtue of Melancholy: Reading Natsume Sลsekiโs ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐โ by Ramzzi Fariรฑas](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/kokoro.png?w=1024)
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Kishore Kumar I was just five when I first “saw” Kishore Kumarโhis presence flickering to life on the tiny black-and-white television set my grandfather had brought back from one of his work trips to the then-USSR. There he wasโhandsome, dashing,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โKishore Kumar: A Journey of Adoration and Rediscoveryโ by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/kishore-kumar-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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There is a scene in the television show Friends where the six main charactersโthe titular friendsโdiscuss “Chinese food.” Chandler jokingly remarks, “Yes, but in China, they just call it food.” It was a humorous moment, and it made perfect sense.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โThe Beginning of My Education in The Finer Points of Chinese Cuisineโ by Jeff Beyl](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fremont-film-still.png?w=1024)
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๐RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS โ Shao Yihui (director), Her Story ๅฅฝไธ่ฅฟ, 2024. 123 min. โ Ling Jia (director), YOLO ็ญ่พฃๆป็ซ, 2024. 130 min. Decades after Chairman Mao declared that โwomen hold up half…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ, ๐๐๐ฟ๐, and the Alternative Family in Chinese Cinema” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-alternative-family-in-chinese-cinema.png?w=1024)
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๐RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS โ Lin Zhao, Flowing Creek ๆตๆบช (originally published in Mandarin Chinese), Shanghai Sanlian Publishing Company, 2020, 192 pgs.โ Lin Zhao, Tidal Chart ๆฝฎๅคๅ (originally published in Mandarin Chinese with a variety…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โRewriting the Southeast Chinese Frontier with Tenderness: Lin Zhaoโs ๐น๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ and ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ถโ๐๐๐กโ by Winifred Dongyi Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/lin-zhao.jpeg?w=600)
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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [EXCERPT] “From ๐โ๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐ค๐๐ก๐๐” by Leslie Shimotakahara](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/the-breakwater.jpg?w=900)
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Ma Ka Fai’s note: These are selected excerpts from my novel Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong III (้ๅคฉ่ณๅฐ), forthcoming this year. The storyโs protagonist, Hon Tien-Yan, is a passionate martial arts enthusiast and an ardent admirer of Bruce Lee.…
![[TRANSLATION] “Master Ip and the Dragonling” by Ma Ka fai, translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ma-ka-fai-e9a6ace5aeb6e8bc9d.png?w=1024)
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Poet’s note: I consider this poem an ode to beginningsโa constant reminder that, before the hurt sets in, before any damage is done, the first page of any story holds infinite promise. There is always a reason for characters to…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Beginnings are Generous” by Marco Yan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/frost-flowers-thumb.jpeg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [EXCLUSIVE] “You Are Not of Human Kind: A Freudian Comparison of Liaozhai and Nosferatu” by Angus Stewartย Robert Eggers (director), Nosferatu, 2024. 132 min. Over Christmas, I finally lifted my copy…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “You Are Not of Human Kind: A Freudian Comparison of ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐งโ๐๐ and ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ข” by Angus Stewartย](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/nosferatu.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS โ Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. 148 pgs.โ Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 129 pgs.โ 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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“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 daysโ travel from the ruins…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โIn Farghestanโ by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/farghestan6-1.png?w=972)
Cha 