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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS R.F. Kuang, Yellowface, William Morrow, 2023. 336 pgs. The title of the novel and its bright yellow cover suggests that the subject matter might having something to do with…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Matt Alt, Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World, Crown Publishing, 2020. 384 pages. The subtitle of the book is enough to entice anyone browsing a bookstore…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Basil Pao (photographer), Carnival of Dreams, with an introduction by Pico Iyer, Hong Kong University Press, 2023. 208 pgs. Huge cubes float in the air, painted with different images on…
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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…
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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 Lockdown Lovers. Michael O’Sullivan, Lockdown Lovers, Penguin Random House SEA, 2021. 240 pgs. When Lockdown Lovers opens with “Hong Kong February–March, 2020”, we expect a flashback…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Cecil Mariani, Gaze, Grace, Grief, RUBANAH – Underground Hub, 2023. When my friend Tara and I walk into the RUBANAH Underground Hub on a humid afternoon in Jakarta, we find…
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TH: In this correspondence, Joshua Ip (from Singapore) asks Felix Chow (from Hong Kong) what Kongish (also known as Konglish) is, and Felix asks Joshua what Singlish is. This piece is an excerpt from State of Play: Poets of East &…
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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 Bright Fear. Mary Jean Chan, Bright Fear, Faber & Faber, 2023. 72 pgs. Mary Jean Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong. They now…
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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 Where Else. Jennifer Wong, Jason Eng Hun Lee, and Tim Tim Cheng (editors), Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology, Verve Poetry Press, 2023.…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “An (Im)possible Document: A Review of Karen Cheung’s The Impossible City” by Luca Griseri Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin…


![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Can An Author Write About Anything? Reading R.F. Kuang’s 𝑌𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/yellowface_wide-a73252995366ad95b7c30c94329e78559d919765-s1400-c100.jpg?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “We’re All Dreaming of Japan: Matt Alt’s 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑃𝑜𝑝 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pure-invention.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Digital X-Acto: Basil Pao’s photography book 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠” by Junnan Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/carnival-of-dreams_basil-pao-1.jpg?w=1024)
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Orange and Buji” BY JASMINE TONG](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/buji_watercolor_2023aug-1.jpeg?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Michael O’Sullivan’s 𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠: The Pandemic as Glocal” by Lucy Hamilton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/lockdown-lovers_michael-osullivan.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “𝐺𝑎𝑧𝑒, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝐺𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓: Gallery in a State of Undress” by Julia Merican](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/grieving-path-series-2-the-yellow-kinesthesis.jpg?w=1024)
![[FEATURE] On Kongish and Singlish: A Conversation—Joshua Ip and Felix Chow](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/felix-chow-and-joshua-ip-cha.png?w=785)
![[REVIEW] “The Thing Itself, Not the Myth: Mary Jean Chan’s 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐹𝑒𝑎𝑟” by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bright-fear-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Not Just a Fusion of Leftover Cultures: A Review of 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐸𝑙𝑠𝑒” by Aerith Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/where-else_an-international-anthology-of-hong-kong-writing.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “An (Im)possible Document: A Review of Karen Cheung’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦” by Luca Griseri](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/the-impossible-city_karen-cheung-1.jpg?w=1024)