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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ryan Dunch and Ashley Esarey (editors), Taiwan in Dynamic Transition: Nation Building and Democratization, University of Washington Press, 2020. 256 pgs. Taiwan has long been a focal point in the study…
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ming-sho Ho, Be Water: Collective Improvisation in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Protests, Temple University Press, 2025. 258 pgs. The Hong Kong protests of 2019, which erupted in opposition to the…
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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 Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines Press, 2025. 240 pgs. For those who haven’t read the original Chinese…
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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 Life Ceremony. Sayaka Murata (author), Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator), Life Ceremony, Granta Books, 2022. 266 pgs. Whenever I encounter the name Sayaka Murata,…
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Adaptation and the Illusion of Home: Manjushree Thapa’s Seasons of Flight” by Abhinav Tulachan Manjushree Thapa, Seasons of Flight, Penguin India, 2011. 226 pgs. “The flap of a butterfly’s wings…
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Doua Moua and Nirris Nagendrarajah Editor’s note: In this interview, Nirris Nagendrarajah talks to screenwriter and actor Doua Moua; they discuss The Harvest, a tender exploration of a Hmong family navigating illness, identity, and intergenerational conflict. Inspired by his own experiences…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Also read “Feature: Lu Xun” in Cha. Lu Xun (author), Eileen J. Cheng (translator), Theodore Huters (editor), Wild Grass & Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk, Harvard University Press,…
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Ki-duk (director), The Isle, 2000. 90 min. Some films are like waves that gently lap against the shores of our memories; others, however, jolt us by revealing…


![[REVIEW] “Taiwan’s Political Evolution and the Study of Comparative Politics as seen in 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐷𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” by Eric D. de Roulet](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/taiwan-in-dynamic-transition-nation-building-and-democratization-1.jpg?w=1000)
![[REVIEW] “Improvising Revolution: Hong Kong’s Protests Through the Lens of Ming-sho Ho” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-flowers-of-democracy-are-everywhere.jpg?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Walking in Unison?: On Hon Lai Chu’s 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Jennifer Eagleton](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)
![[REVIEW] “Tender Aberrations: Reading Sayaka Murata’s 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝐶𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑦” by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sayaka-murata-author-ginny-tapley-takemori-translator.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Adaptation and the Illusion of Home: Manjushree Thapa’s 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐹𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡” by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/manjushree-thapa-seasons-of-flight-1.jpg?w=881)
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Love Is Time: A Conversation on 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡” by NIRRIS NAGENDRARAJAH and Doua Moua”](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/the-harvest_carley-soo.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “Between Heckle & Hush: The Public & Private Voices of a Poet” by Michael Ingham](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/andrew-barker-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
![[REVIEW] “One of the Greatest Writers, Full Stop: Lu Xun’s 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠 & 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑠 𝐺𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑢𝑠𝑘” by Robert Postings](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wild-grass-and-morning-blossoms-gathered-at-dusk-harvard-university-press-2022.-272-pgs.jpg?w=955)
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑠𝑙𝑒 at 25: Kim Ki Duk’s Blooming Poem on the Island of Solitude” by G.A. Gowtham](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/f_1_the_isle_01c5e5da4c.jpeg?w=1024)