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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Ai-Ting Chung’s essay “Toxic Humidifiers and Atmospheric Thinking in Air Murder” examines Air Murder (2022), directed by Jo Yong-sun, as an ecocinema work grounded in real-life tragedy: South Korea’s…
![[ESSAY] “Toxic Humidifiers and Atmospheric Thinking in 𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑀𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟” by Ai-Ting Chung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/air-murder-korea.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Etienne Périer’s Bridge to the Sun and Extremism Abroad” by Jeremiah Dutch Etenne Périer (director), Bridge to the Sun, 1961. 113 min. Living abroad and watching one’s homeland descend…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Etienne Périer’s 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑢𝑛 and Extremism Abroad” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/bridge-to-the-sun-cha.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Light, Heat, Power: Rescuing the Modern in Leo Ou-fan Lee’s Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945” by Victoria Green Leo Lee Ou-fan, Shanghai Modern:…
![[REVIEW] “Light, Heat, Power: Rescuing the Modern in Leo Ou-fan Lee’s 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑎𝑖 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑈𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎, 1930-1945″ by Victoria Green](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/leo-lee-ou-fan-shanghai-modern-the-flowering-of-a-new-urban-culture-in-china-1.jpg?w=1019)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: In “E.T. 3 is Lying in a Coffin Outside Wuhan”, Angus Stewart explores Xiaosha Zhang’s 2018 mockumentary My Son Went to an Alien Planet (E.T. Made in China), situating…
![[ESSAY] “E.T. 3 is Lying in a Coffin Outside Wuhan” by Angus Stewart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/https-mubi.comenbefilmse-t-made-in-china.webp?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Impossible (Between) Girls: Lilly Hu’s One Girl Infinite” by Hongwei Bao Lilly Hu (director), One Girl Infinite 不可能女孩, 2025. 102 min. The Chinese title of Lilly Hu’s (also known in…
![[REVIEW] “Impossible (Between) Girls: Lilly Hu’s 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/one-girl-infinite-e4b88de58fafe883bde5a5b3e5ada9-2025.jpeg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “How Modern China Woke Up: A review of Martin Albers’s Britain, France, West Germany and the People’s Republic of China, 1969-1982” by Mario Rustan Martin Albers, Britain, France, West Germany…
![[REVIEW] “How Modern China Woke Up: A review of Martin Albers’s 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒’𝑠 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎, 1969–1982” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/britain-france-west-germany-1.jpg?w=820)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Who’s Afraid of Not Conjoined Bodies?: Hon Lai Chu’s Mending Bodies” by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies,…
![[REVIEW] “Who’s Afraid of Not Conjoined Bodies?: Hon Lai Chu’s 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hon-lai-chu-author-jacqueline-leung-translator-mending-bodies-two-lines-press-2025.-240-pgs.jpg?w=938)
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[ESSAY] “Wong Bar Wine: A Cinematic Oasis in Hanoi” by Zalman S. Davis On a calm Monday evening, I found myself at 14B Hai Bà Trưng in Hanoi, drawn to a cosy corner on Tràng Tiền that radiated a warm, amber…
![[ESSAY] “Wong Bar Wine: A Cinematic Oasis in Hanoi” by Zalman S. Davis](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/img_20241222_010158-e1761994105173.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 Visit Write to Power to read the selected poems and the poets’ reflections on their poems. These days, in many places, many things can’t be said directly. Can we say them in poetry? Cha: An Asian Literary Journal is…
![[CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS] The Write to Power Special Feature](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/write-to-power-banner.png?w=500)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hsiao-wen Cheng, Divine, Demonic, and Disordered: Women without Men in Song Dynasty China, University of Washington Press, 2021. 244 pgs. I did not find this book an easy read,…
![[REVIEW] “Women without Men: Rethinking Sexuality & Normalcy in Imperial China—Hsiao-wen Cheng’s 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/divine-demonic-and-disordered-women-without-men-in-song-dynasty-china-hardcover-e28093-january-31-2021-by-hsiao-wen-cheng-author.png?w=600)
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Header artwork by Annysa Ng 茶 First Impressionsclick for information 茶 Essays click for information 茶 En Routeclick for information 茶 XI XI—Can We Sayclick for information 茶 Write to Powerclick for information 茶 Auditory Cortexclick for information
Cha 