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Editor’s note: We are honoured to present the personal reflection “Curriculum Vitae in Silence” and the poem of the same title by Liu Hongbin, a Chinese British poet of Tiananmen exile. He was shaped by a childhood torn between pastoral…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Chris Martinez’s Kontrabida Academy and the Anatomy of a Filipino Teleserye” by Bryan Elijah Trajano Chris Martinez (director), Kontrabida Academy, 2025. 107 min. Teleserye (drama), whether on television or in…
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Chris Song’s Note: Liu Yichang’s 劉以鬯 (1918–2018) short story “Riot” 動亂, set against the backdrop of the 1967 Hong Kong Riots, is a hauntingly experimental meditation on violence, urban alienation, and the blurred boundary between the living and the inanimate.…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Pillion & Box Hill. Editor’s note: We are delighted to present Hongwei Bao’s essayistic film review, which blends cultural history, theory, and critique through the…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS James Albon (author and illustrator), Love Languages, Top Shelf Productions, 2025. 176 pgs. The book begins with six pages of vibrant illustrations depicting people of diverse cultural backgrounds at…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uno Chiyo (author), Rebecca Copeland (translator), The Story of a Single Woman, Pushkin Press, 2025. 106 pgs. Everything in Uno Chiyo’s The Story of a Single Woman, translated from…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Alternative Local and Translocal Hong Kong Histories in Larissa Lai’s The Lost Century” by Yiwen Liu Larissa Lai, The Lost Century: A Novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022. 374 pgs. Published…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Mountains Speak: The Himalayan Arc” by Abhinav Tulachan Namita Gokhale (editor), The Himalayan Arc: Journeys East of South-east, HarperCollins India, 2018. 352 pgs. Namche Bazaar has always been my…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kawika Guillermo, Nimrods: A Fake-Punk Self-Hurt Anti-Memoir, Duke University Press, 2023. 240 pgs. Fuck ’em all. Squares on bothsides. I am the only completeman in the industry.—Burroughs, Naked Lunch…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Filial Piety and Farce: Negotiating Family and Queerness in Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet” by Jade Gu Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Ang Lee. Ang Lee (director), The Wedding Banquet, 1993.…


![[EXCLUSIVE] “Curriculum Vitae in Silence” by Liu Hongbin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/marble-feature.webp?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Chris Martinez’s 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑑𝑎 𝐴𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑦 and the Anatomy of a Filipino Teleserye” by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/chris-martinez-director-kontrabida-academy-2025.-107-min.jpg?w=1000)
![[TRANSLATION] “Riot” by Liu Yichang, Translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/liu-yichang-and-chris-song-1.png?w=1024)
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Riding Together: 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 and the Radical History of Queer Cinema” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pillion-film-review-2025-cha-an-asian-literary-journal-hongwei-bao.png?w=1024)
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Life Outside the Bubble in James Albon’s 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠” by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/lovelangs_jalbon-2.jpg?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “The Trembling of Memory: Self and Society in Uno Chiyo’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛” by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/uno-chiyo-author-rebecca-copeland-translator-the-story-of-a-single-woman-pushkin-press-1.jpg?w=977)
![[REVIEW] “Alternative Local and Translocal Hong Kong Histories in Larissa Lai’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑦” by Yiwen Liu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/larissa-lai-the-lost-century.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “The Mountains Speak: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑎𝑛 𝐴𝑟𝑐” by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/namche-bazaar-the-himalayan-arc-journeys-east-of-south-east-copy.jpg?w=695)
![[REVIEW] “ ‘________________________’: Rererecapitulating Kawika Guillermo’s Devastatingly Wondrous 𝑁𝑖𝑚𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑠: 𝐴 𝐹𝑎𝑘𝑒-𝑃𝑢𝑛𝑘 𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝐻𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖-𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑟” by Jason S Polley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/kawika-guillermo-devastating-nimrods-a-fake-punk-self-hurt-anti-memoir-.jpg?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Filial Piety and Farce: Negotiating Family and Queerness in Ang Lee’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑡” by Jade Gu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ang-lee-director-the-wedding-banquet-.webp?w=1024)