Category: Exclusive
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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…
![[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997] “The Vegetable Lifestyle” by Mary Wong, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/like.png?w=873)
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing by the author. The English translation is edited with help from David Morgan. George Lo, a watercolour teacher, provided the author advice on her painting. “Huh! So you think…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Big Sister Ping” by Jasmine Tong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sister-ping.png?w=1024)
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TH: “Like” 讚 is a short story collected in Mary Wong’s Surviving Central 中環人, which won the “25th Secondary School Students’ Best Ten Books Award.” Chandler strolled into the sleek modern Haneda Airport, wearing a casual ensemble. He handed over his passport…
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing of Buji by Tang Yiu Lun 鄧耀麟. The English translation is edited with help from David Morgan. We got to know “Orange” first. “Mummy, Big Brother Orange says he…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Orange and Buji” BY JASMINE TONG](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/buji_watercolor_2023aug-1.jpeg?w=1024)
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Click HERE to read Frances An’s Review of Eternal Summer of Homeland. Writing—like learning a new language, like moving across continents—is an adventure fraught with vulnerability. I began to write my first fiction collection, Eternal Summer of My Homeland, shortly…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Writing, Language, and the Longing for Home” BY Agnes Chew](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/agnes-chew-1.jpg?w=1024)
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Preface: À la recherche du temps perdu by Leo Ou-Fan Lee Translated from the Chineseby Heidi Huang A memoir, as the word itself implies, is a personal walk down one’s memory lane “in search of the lost time” against oblivion.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Preface to 𝑀𝑦 𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑡ℎ 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑦: 𝐴 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑂𝑢-𝐹𝑎𝑛 𝐿𝑒𝑒](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/leo-ou-fan-lee_cha.jpg?w=1024)
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“4AM, Fort Lee”, photo by Matt Turner In the Fall of 2022, there was a gas leak in the building I lived in in Brooklyn. ConEd Power came by to take a look, and by the time they left we…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “City Without Death: Poems” by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/fort-lee_matt-turner_cha.png?w=1024)
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing by the author. The English translation is edited with help from David Morgan. “Watching the sea, all my worries vanish! I really love the sea.” He says this…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Sailor on the Ferry” by Jasmine Tong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/jasmine-tong_cha-1.jpg?w=1024)
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lt usually takes me two short scooter rides, a session on the Puyuma express train, and a fair amount of walking and waiting to get to and from work every day. I’ve recently given up riding my second scooter from…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “The Temptation of the Claw Machine’s Revenge” by Quenntis Ashby](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-24-hour-claw-machine-arcade-on-the-corner-of-fuxing-road-and-lide-street-copy.jpg?w=1022)
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TH: We are pleased to present an exclusive essay by Frances An on her forthcoming novel, Ladder Brake. Frances also offered us an excerpt from the book. On Writing Ladder Brake by Frances An After her high-achieving older sister disappears,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Writing 𝐿𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑘𝑒” by Frances An](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ladder-brake-1.png?w=1024)
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Translated from the Chinese original, also available below, by the author. Drawing of Mimi by the author. Mimi I’d like to tell you about Mimi. She’s a cat, the shop cat of Taihing Fresh Fruit Store, downstairs in the Tai…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Mimi” by Jasmine Tong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/mimi_jasmine-tong_cha-an-asian-literary-journal-1.jpg?w=1024)
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A scan of a photo I took in August 2015, with a Polaroid camera, using film made by the Impossible Project. It shows a section of a tree that was cut down. A time named “just the next day” and…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Just the Next Day” by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tree-shaman-1-1.jpg?w=907)
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I’ve cried a little today—at church, during the opening lines of the liturgy, and then again over Sunday brunch with my husband. Little ripples of grief bubble up to the surface, then recede. Another month of trying to get pregnant,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Early Spring” by Sheela Jane Menon](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/story_pandemic-pup-1.jpg?w=1024)
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In Laundry City, all life began with the shirt. The rest was optional. Mustard types of men frequently wore that, believing they were invisible, and shame was the weight of a t-shirt. Houses were made of expensive washable elephant hides,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “The Laundry City” by Meiko Ko](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-laundry-city_photo-by-oliver-farry.png?w=1024)
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TH: All photographs in this essay are by the author. Header image: Altar with ancestral tablets, Tang Clan ancestral hall, Ping Shan, 31 December 1996. The son of cartoonist Ma Lung is seen in this image. . Guests at a…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Food and Memory” by David Clarke](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/altar-with-ancestral-tablets-tang-clan-ancestral-hall-ping-shan-31-december-1996.png?w=1024)
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TH: We are pleased to present an exclusive essay by Eileen J. Cheng entitled “Lu Xun and Radical Art” and her English translation of Lu Xun’s “Tombstone Inscriptions” 墓碣文, included in Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk. “Tombstone Inscriptions”…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Eileen J. Cheng: “Lu Xun and Radical Art” and “Tombstone Inscriptions” 墓碣文](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/wild-grass-and-morning-blossoms-gathered-at-dusk-1.jpg?w=450)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] Being Born, Getting Old, Falling Sick, and Dyingby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong Kong—Wednesday 26 August 2020 }}} Twenty-four Covid new cases confirmed today in Hong Kong. The aircon…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Being Born, Getting Old, Falling Sick, and Dying” (Wednesday 26 August 2020) by Chris Song, Translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hong-kong-2020-1.jpeg?w=720)
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A Son of Hanoi . Kenneth on “A Son of Hanoi”: It is worth considering the idea of the 1.5 generation and how a few years of schooling in an imperialist country can be so strongly internalised. What does it…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Son of Hanoi” and “Tấm and the Peasant Farmer” by Kenneth Tanemura](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hanoi.png?w=1024)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] Workers’ Expression of Romanceby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong Kong—Monday 24 August 2020 }}} Today there were nine confirmed Covid cases in Hong Kong. It’s the first time in…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Workers’ Expression of Romance” (Monday 24 August 2020) by Chris Song, translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/star-street_wing-fung-street.png?w=1024)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] Every Lovely Little Thingby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong Kong—Tuesday 25 August 2020 }}} Nineteen confirmed Covid cases today in Hong Kong. The lunchtime news reported that pandemic measures…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Every Lovely Little Thing” (Tuesday 25 August 2020) by Chris Song, translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/k-town_oliver-farry-1.png?w=958)
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[Chris Song’s Mobile Diary] That Moment Balances Fiction and Realityby Chris Song, translated from the Chinese by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho {{{ Hong Kong—Friday 28 August 2020 }}} Twenty-one confirmed Covid cases in Hong Kong today. Last night the rain was unforgiving.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “That Moment Balances Fiction and Reality” (Friday 28 August 2020) by Chris Song, translated by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/hong-kong_28-august-2020_chris-song-1.jpg?w=960)
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Photographs of jellyfish are by the author. Of course we don’t keep records—why would we?—but my understanding is that we have been around for at least 500 million years, and maybe 700 million. I don’t believe there are any other…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “A Jellyfish Explains Life” by David Clarke](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/jellyfish-in-an-aquarium-boston16-may-2017originalsize-1.jpg?w=1024)
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Reflections on “Q & A” E. Ethelbert Miller: The title is actually what occurs in the poem. Often Miho and I will exchange lines and stanzas as we construct our poems. In this poem I felt it was more like…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Q & A” by Miho Kinnas and E. Ethelbert Miller](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/frederick-j.-brown.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Elmer Omar Bascos Pizo is from the Philippines. In 1981, he received a degree in Agricultural Engineering from Benguet State University. He taught poultry production in high school before he went to Saudi Arabia as an agriculturist. Shocked…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Returned Home for Christmas after Years of Absence: A Personal Reflection and a Tale” by Elmer Omar Bascos Pizo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/elmer-omar-bascos-pizo_cha.png?w=1024)
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Kamayani Sharma on “Catching Fish”: I wrote the first draft of the poem on 14 April 2012. I remember the exact date because I emailed the poem to a friend as soon as I finished it. In those days, having…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Catching Fish” by Kamayani Sharma](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cha_accompanyingphoto.jpg?w=1024)
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Photograph by Madeleine Slavick There are 22 of us on the plane from Auckland to Hong Kong and about 350 empty seats. I sleep across five. We depart at night and arrive at night. I talk with one person…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “The Yellow Chair” by Madeleine Slavick](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/the-yellow-chair-by-madeleine-slavick.jpg?w=1024)
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[Return to Table of Contents.] LOVE: A Readingjointly organised byCha and Bleak House BooksDate: Friday 17 September 2021Time: 7:30 pmVenue: Bleak House BooksModerator: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho First performed at LOVE: A Reading, these are original poems by Ilaria Maria Sala. We are grateful…
![[EXCLUSIVE] LOVE: Ilaria Maria Sala](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/love-reading_17-sept-2021.png?w=1024)
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Andrew Houwen’s note: The Japanese poet Kazue Shinkawa has described Noriko Ibaragi (1926-2006) as the “big sister” of post-war Japanese poetry. Ibaragi had her poetry first published at the age of 19, at a time when published women poets were…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Four New Translations of Noriko Ibaragi by Andrew Houwen and Peter Robinson](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ibaragi-noriko.jpeg?w=1024)
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Translation Editor Lucas Klein‘s note: Brian Holton’s translations of Li Bai are new in at least three senses: he completed them recently; they will be new to readers familiar only with the Tang poet’s “greatest hits” or anthology pieces; and they…
![[EXCLUSIVE] Parting, Travel, and the Great Roc: Poems of Li Bai, Newly Translated by Brian Holton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/parting-travel-and-the-great-roc-poems-of-li-bai-newly-translated-by-brian-holton.png?w=1024)
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In “The Force of Forging Words”, a poem in Words as Grain: New & Selected Poems by premier Chinese poet Duo Duo 多多 (Yale University Press, The Cecile and Theodore Margellos World Republic of Letters series), translated by Lucas Klein,…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Entering a State of No-Self: Some Thoughts on Poetry and Translation” by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/duo-duo-words-as-grain-cha-chris-song.png?w=1024)
Cha 