Category: Exclusive
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I’d nervously sweated through the last 23 hours, certain I’d be escorted to a ventilation-less detention room to wait for a flight back to the US. And now I faced a Border Control officer who looked through my passport without…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “In Beijing: 12.26-1.10” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image0-2.jpeg?w=1024)
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Chris Song’s Note: Liu Yichang’s 劉以鬯 (1918–2018) short story “Lunar New Year’s Eve” 除夕 imagines the last day of Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹 (1710–1765), author of The Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢, who is believed to have died on Lunar New Year’s…
![[TRANSLATION] “Lunar New Year’s Eve” by Liu Yichang, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/liu-yichang-copy.jpg?w=1024)
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“China is already a great power, and whether the next three decades will be a cold or a hot war, nothing can stop her now. By the year 2001 she will be a powerful industrial socialist State.”—Han Suyin, China in…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Han versus Kahn: 1970” by Angus Stewart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/han-suyin-and-herman-kahn.png?w=1024)
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Chris Song’s Note: Xu Nianci 徐念慈 (1875-1908), from Changshu, Jiangsu, was a Chinese writer, editor, and translator in the late Qing dynasty who mastered English and Japanese in his early twenties and was skilled in mathematics and writing. In 1904,…
![[TRANSLATION] “A New Tale from Mr Faluo” BY Xu Nianci, TRANSLATED BY CHRIS SONG](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/a-new-tale-from-mr.-falou-e696b0e6b395e89ebae58588e7949fe8ad9a2.png?w=880)
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Lin Huiyin, 1904-1955 (Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain) Mike Fu’s Note: I find myself drawn to Chinese writers situated at the interstices of history, culture, and language, and whose literary works demonstrate a hybrid subjectivity, whether overt or implicit. Lin Huiyin…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Two New Translations of Lin Huiyin by Mike Fu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/mike-fu-translations.png?w=1024)
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I blame my inability to speak Cantonese on waitresses in Chinese restaurants. My wife would say it’s all on me. To be fair, I should have kept it up. I should have practised more. You are getting better every day,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Learning to Speak Cantonese” by Jeff Beyl](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cantonese.png?w=1024)
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Also read Akin Jeje’s tribute to Reid Mitchell. I wrote two sonnets for Reid Mitchell (1955-2023); one a couple of years before he died and one, at Reid’s own instigation, some fifteen years ago. Reid had told me a story…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Two Sonnets for Reid Mitchell” by Andrew Barker](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/reid-michell-impression.jpeg?w=1024)
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Chris Song’s Note: Chan Hay-ching’s 陳曦靜 short story “Boda’s Borders” 寶達的邊境 was originally written in Chinese and was first published in Hong Kong Literature Bimonthly 城市文藝, No. 105 (April 2020). It was later included in her collection Rocky, a Stray Dog…
![[TRANSLATION] “Boda’s Borders” by Chan Hay-ching, translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/chan-hay-ching-and-chris-song.png?w=934)
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Also read Andrew Barker’s tribute to Reid Mitchell. Photo of Reid Mitchell © Martin Alexander Describing a great and complex man as Reid Hardeman Mitchell (1955-2023) is not easy—he was a poet and a professor, bon vivant and raconteur, historian…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Tribute to Reid Mitchell” by Akin Jeje](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/reid-mitchell-cha-an-asian-literary-journal-2.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Tragedies of Inequality: Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite and Jordan Peele’s Us” by Jonathan Chan Bong Joon-Ho (director), Parasite, 2019. 132 min.Jordan Peele (director), Us, 2019, 116 min. The sociologist Teo You Yenn…
![[ESSAY] “Tragedies of Inequality: Bong Joon-ho’s 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 and Jordan Peele’s 𝑈𝑠” by Jonathan Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/us.png?w=749)
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TH: James Batcho writes about Bangkok, his introduction to Asia. Normally when I come to Bangkok I stay in Sukhumvit. I’ve been doing that since my Busan days, starting around 2009, I guess. This time I’m in the Khaosan Road…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Khaosan 1996-2019” by James Batcho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/khaosan1-blackwhite.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “On the Lighter Side: Nektaria Anastasiadou’s A Recipe for Daphne” by Beth Adams Nektaria Anastasiadou, A Recipe for Daphne, Hoopoe Fiction, 2021. 326 pgs. “A monstrous confusion of civilization and…
![[ESSAY] “On the Lighter Side: Nektaria Anastasiadou’s 𝐴 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐷𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑛𝑒” by Beth Adams](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2021-02-12-dsc_0074-copy.jpg?w=1024)
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Chris Song’s Note: Xu Dishan wrote “The Gills of the Metal Fish” 鐵魚底鰓 in either 1940 or 1941 when he was living in Hong Kong. Different from his previous fiction with various religious elements, “The Gills of the Metal Fish”…
![[TRANSLATION] “The Gills of the Metal Fish” by Xu Dishan, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image3-1.jpeg?w=1024)
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Kendall Heitzman’s introduction: “Project Babel” was published in Japanese in the Tokyo Shimbun on 26 November 2022. It first appeared in English in my translation at a reading on 22 September 2023 at the University of Minnesota. An abridged version was…
![[TRANSLATION] “Project Babel” by Li Kotomi, Translated by Kendall Heitzman](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/kendall-heitzman-and-li-kotomi_cha-an-asian-literary-journal-copy-1.jpg?w=1024)
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TH: We are pleased to present Chris Song’s English translation of Mary Wong’s short story “Christmas Shopping” 聖誕購物, which is collected in Surviving Central 中環人. The story won the 25th Secondary School Students’ Best Ten Books Award. Ⓖ🅁Ⓞ🅄Ⓝ🄳……🄵Ⓛ🄾Ⓞ🅁 “It’s better…
![[TRANSLATION] “Christmas Shopping” BY MARY WONG, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/like.png?w=873)
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TH: In this essay, Matt Turner meditates on a couple of recent concerts he attended at Dream House and Task, both in New York. In late July this year, I attended a performance at Dream House in lower Manhattan; I…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Space for ‘Music'” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/dh2023_1.jpg?w=1024)
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TH: Wong King Fai’s short story “The Girl Without a Face” 無相女 was published in the Hong Kong Literary 香港文學 magazine in 2009 and is included in the author’s collection Hong Kong: Mock City 香港：重複的城市. In 2023, it was shortlisted…
![[TRANSLATION] “The Girl Without a Face” by Wong King Fai, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/girl-without-a-face_cha-an-asian-literary-journal.jpg?w=1024)
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TH: In this very short tale, Guru T Ladakhi presents a defiant woman proud of ownership of her body and choices, unafraid of the gossip and speculation of others. Artwork by Anastasi Holubchyk. I know a great grandmother. She is…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Tall” by Guru T Ladakhi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/anastasi-holubchyk1.png?w=940)
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TH: Aileen Blaney explores the gentrification of the Himalayan village in the new work-from-anywhere post-pandemic dispensation. In this piece, the coffee shop is used as a device for depicting the arrival of a cosmopolitan elite in rural India. “They’re ruining the Himalayas with their coffee shops and…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Basque Cheesecake in the Indian Himalayas” by Aileen Blaney](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/dharamshala-for-digital-nomads.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Die With Your Pants Down: Patrick Tam’s Nomad” by Matt Turner Patrick Tam (director), Nomad (烈火青春), 1982. 157 min. This review contains spoilers. I really didn’t see the final scene coming.…
![[ESSAY] “Die With Your Pants Down: Patrick Tam’s 𝑁𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑑” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/nomad_japanese-poster.webp?w=1024)
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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TH: Suo Er read part of this essay at the “Nature on Edge” panel at the Iowa City Public Library on Friday 8 September 2023, as part of the Iowa Writing Program Fall 2023. I’m not joking when I say…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Do You Have a Sea Chart in Your Mind?” by Suo Er, Translated by Suo Er and Grace Najmulski](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/suo-er.png?w=1024)
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997: All Entries] TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by…
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