Category: Michael Tsang
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Pains, Survival, and Self-Publishing: Gurpreet Kaur Khosaβs Pain & Other Inheritances” by Michael Tsang Gurpreet Kaur Khosa. Pain & Other Inheritances, BookLeaf Publishing, 2025. 50 pgs. This collection stands…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Pains, Survival, and Self-Publishing: Gurpreet Kaur Khosaβs ππππ & ππ‘βππ πΌπβππππ‘πππππ ” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/pain-other-inheritances.jpg)
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Editor’s note: In this feature, we present an interview with Jennifer Wong on her new collection Light Year, conducted by Chaβs staff reviewer Michael Tsang. Wongβs work is widely recognised for its attentiveness to memory, language, and the complexities of…
![[CONVERSATION] “Writing Through Loss, Language, and Home: On πΏππβπ‘ ππππ” by Michael Tsang and Jennifer Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/light-year-paperback-e28093-19-feb.-2026-english-edition-by-jennifer-wong-author.jpg)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lucy Hamilton, The Widening of Tolo Highway: A Hong Kong Story of Paranoia and Protest, Penguin Random House SEA, 2022. 236 pgs. When, one-third into a novel, you still…
![[REVIEW] βHong Kong as Method: Lucy Hamiltonβs πβπ ππππππππ ππ ππππ π»ππβπ€ππ¦β by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-widening-of-the-tolo-highway-1.jpg)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ozawa Minoru (author), Janine Beichman (translator), Well-Versed: Exploring Modern Japanese Haiku, with photography by Maeda ShinzΕ and Akira, Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2021. 375 pgs. Haiku has…
![[REVIEW] βBeautifully ProducedβOzawa Minoruβs ππππ-ππππ ππ: πΈπ₯πππππππ ππππππ π½ππππππ π π»ππππ’β by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/well-versed.png)
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π RETURN TO JUST ANOTHER DAY It happened when I was prepping for a roundtable on Hong Kong I am taking part in tomorrow, deliberately timed to be a day after this, just another day. My soundtrack for work was the…
![[JUST ANOTHER DAY] Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/just-another-day_cha.png)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Choi Jin-young (author), Soje (translator). To the Warm Horizon, Honford Star, 2021. 172 pgs. Originally published in 2017, To the Warm Horizon is perhaps best seen as a curious example of a…
![[REVIEW] βWeirdness Unfulfilled: Choi Jin-youngβs ππ π‘βπ ππππ π»ππππ§ππβ by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/warm-horizon.png)
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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)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Jia Zhangke (director), Ash Is Purest White (Chinese name: ζ±ζΉε ε₯³ Jianhu ErnΓΌ), 2018. 136 min. Note: This review contains spoilers. One of the most influential Chinese independent film directors today, Jia Zhangke turns to the…
![[REVIEW] “Not Her Story: Jia Zhangkeβs π΄π β πΌπ ππ’πππ π‘ πβππ‘π” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ash-is-purest-white.jpeg)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Tsering DΓΆndrup (author), Christopher Peacock (translator), The Handsome Monk and Other Stories, Columbia University Press, 2019. 216 pgs. Tsering DΓΆndrupβs The Handsome Monk and Other Stories shows that literatures from less visible…
![[REVIEW] “Noir Fables of Tibet: Tsering DΓΆndrupβs πβπ π»ππππ πππ ππππ πππ ππ‘βππ ππ‘πππππ ” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/the-handsome-monk-and-other-stories_asian-cha.png)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} The Bauhinia Project, Hong Kong Without Us: A Peopleβs Poetry, University of Georgia Press, 2021. 120 pgs. Unusual times call for unusual ways of self-expression. At a time when civil freedoms in Hong…
![[REVIEW] “Poetry Blossoms Everywhere: A Review of π»πππ πΎπππ πππ‘βππ’π‘ ππ ” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/hong-kong-without-us.png)
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.}Β {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Amy L. Atchison and Shauna L. Shames, Survive and Resist: The Definitive Guide to Dystopian Politics, Columbia University Press, 2019.…
![[REVIEW] “Not Definitive: A Review of Survive and Resist: The Definitive Guide to Dystopian Politics” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/survide-and-resist_amy-l-atchison-shauna-l-shames.jpg)
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of Issue 43 (April 2019) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Xu Xi, Insignificance, Typhoon Media/Signal 8 Press, 2018. 190 pgs. Compared to her previous work, the stories in…
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of Issue 42 (January 2019) of Cha.}Β {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Wendy Chen, Unearthings, Tavern Books, 2018. 104 pgs. In her debut poetry collection Unearthings, Wendy Chen muses on…
![[Review] “Reading History Slowly: Wendy Chen’s Unearthings” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Unearthings-1.jpg)
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of Issue 42 (January 2019) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} TarΕ Naka (author), Andrew Houwen and Chikako Nihei (translators), Music: Selected Poems, Isobar Press, 2018. 138 pgs. TarΕ…
![[REVIEW] “Take on the Challenge: TarΕ Naka’s ππ’π ππ: ππππππ‘ππ πππππ ” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Music_Selected-Poems.jpg)
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β€ INTRODUCTION β’ Tammy Ho Lai-Ming,Β Michael O’Sullivan,Β Eddie Tay,Β Michael Tsang β€ ARTICLES β’ β Principles of the Hong Kong Kitchen Shorthand Winnie CheungΒ andΒ Lian-Hee Weeβ From Neon Signs to Skyscrapers: The Spectacle of Fluidity in Hong Kongβs Post/modern Cityscape Shao Yi…
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of Issue 41 (September 2018) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} This review contains spoilers to the entire franchise. Though highly celebrated commercially, Crazy Rich Asians the film also seems to…
![[REVIEW] “The Asian American Elite’s Victory: πΆπππ§π¦ π
ππβ π΄π ππππ in Print and on Screen” by Michael tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/crazy-rich-asians_cha-journal.jpg)
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of Issue 39 (April 2018) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Wesley Leon Aroozoo (author), Miki Hawkinson (translator), I Want to Go Home, Math Paper Press, 2017. 222 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Memory, Trauma, Love: Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s πΌ ππππ‘ π‘π πΊπ π»ππποΌεΈ°γγγ” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/i-want-to-go-home.png)
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of the “Writing Hong Kong” Issue (December 2017) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Antony Dapiran, City of Protest: A Recent History of Dissent in Hong Kong, Penguin, 134…
![[Review] “Locked Potential: Antony Dapiran’s πΆππ‘π¦ ππ ππππ‘ππ π‘” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/city-of-protest1.jpg)
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{Written by Michael Tsang, this review is part of the “Writing Hong Kong” Issue (December 2017) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} PEN Hong Kong, Hong Kong 20/20: Reflections on a borrowed place, Blacksmith Books, 2017. 400…
![[REVIEW] Candid Hong Kong: PEN Hong Kong’s Hong Kong 20/20](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/hk2020_cover_8001.jpg)
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We are very happy to announce that selected poems from the ten-year history of Cha: An Asian Literary JournalΒ (November 2007-October 2017) will be published in a special edition of the Hong Kong-based print poetry magazine,Β Voice & Verse, in February 2018.…
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In early July, we sent out a call for poems about the Chinese Government’s White Paper on the “One Country, Two Systems” principle in Hong Kong. At the time, the publication of the paper, which formally precluded true democracy within…
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Pictured: Hong Kong Column – Translated (http://facebook.com/hkcolumn) Introduction Cha is seeking entries on the theme “Hong Kong Isn’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon” in response to the Chinese Government’s White Paper (click here for more information) to be included in a…
