𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍—We're glad pleased to present Chi Ta-wei’s 1994 short story, “Beneath His Eyes, in Your Palm, a Red, Red Rose Is About to Bloom”, trans. Nathaniel Isaacson: "... a queer, prophetic, postmodern, posthuman, drug-fuelled cyberpunk pastiche..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/24/b... 。。。

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 Cha: An Asian Literary Journal 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦] Susan Blumberg-Kason writes about Claire Lee's 𝑂𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒 (2025): "... a striking book of short prose that explores everyday objects, events, and places across the globe." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/23/t... 。。。。。

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social—Lorence Lozano examines Prabda Yoon’s 2019 short film 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠, analysing its depiction of satellite technology as a means of historical erasure: "... the military orders Pang to erase them from the system[.]" ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/23/u...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social—Yiwen Liu's essay critiques popular portrayals of the Evenki as a utopian minority by analysing Chi Zijian’s novel 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑛 (Vintage, 2014), trans. Bruce Humes, & Gu Tao’s documentary 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑎 (2014). ⧉ chajournal.com/2025/12/22/l...

Good article. Can't wait to pick up the book.

. @susanbk.bsky.social on @josephtorigian.bsky.social's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦’𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡: "Torigian reflects on Xi Zhongxun’s post–Cultural Revolution years—a single paragraph that encapsulates his decades-long career in the CCP..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: chajournal.com/2025/07/16/x...

Jack Greenberg reviews Ch’oe Myŏngik's 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 (@columbiaup.bsky.social, 2024), trans. Janet Poole: "The tragedy of there being two Koreas is the reason that Ch’oe’s reputation disappeared and that his creativity has been ignored for so many decades." ⧉ chajournal.com/2024/03/13/p...

Daniel Gauss: “Hong Kong’s forgotten men sleep in wire boxes; its youth are invited to dance in recycled quarantine pods.” Read Daniel's essay in @asiancha.bsky.social: chajournal.com/2025/12/21/r...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Lu Feng on𝑅𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑛, eds. Niki J. P. Alsford & Ti-Han Chang. This is our first review of the volume; there will be more forthcoming. "... a new collection of essays seeking to redefine Taiwan’s position in the world[.]" ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/20/r...

𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 狂野时代, a 2025 Chinese science fiction drama film written & directed by Bi Gan, is set in a future where most of humanity has lost its ability to dream. A female protagonist (Shu Qi) encounters an inhuman creature (Jackson Yee) who still experiences dreams. mubi.com/en/fr/films/...

⧉ 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑴𝒊𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒓: 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑱𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂’𝒔 𝑻𝒆𝒂 𝑪𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝗕𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘆𝗲𝗿 "... explores the forgotten American penchant for Japanese green tea and how it shaped Japanese tastes." cup.columbia.edu/book/green-w...

fascinating

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧. We would love to feature reviews of these titles in @asiancha.bsky.social in 2026. If you are interested in engaging with any of these books, please send an email to [email protected].

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Nirris Nagendrarajah on Ocean Vuong's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠: "... one becomes aware of how accustomed one has grown to identifying with the privileged, the straight, & the intellectual, to the extent of excluding the majority..." ⧉ chajournal.com/2025/12/19/g...

/ ... filmmaker Aneil Karia transports the infamous story to the streets of London and the city’s vibrant South Asian community. [...] And everyone speaks Hindi. It’s safe to say, this isn’t your English teacher’s version of 𝐻𝑎𝑚𝑙𝑒𝑡. / www.refinery29.com/en-us/riz-ah...

Coming to Sundance 2026, 𝑧𝑖, directed by Kogonada: "In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night — and possibly her life." H/T: 𝐶ℎ𝑎'𝑠 resident film critic, Nirris Nagendrarajah. 𝑧𝑖: festival.sundance.org/program/film...

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐚. We would love to feature reviews of these titles in @asiancha.bsky.social in 2026. If you are interested in reading any of these titles, please send an email to [email protected].

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. We'd love to feature reviews of these titles in @asiancha.bsky.social in 2026. If you are interested in reading any of these titles, please send an email to [email protected].

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Hilda Wong reviews Ling Ma's 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒: "In an era defined by burnout & quiet quitting, Ling Ma’s book offers a definitive metaphor for our age, a pandemic that turns routine & meaningless patterns into a lethal cycle of recurrence." ⧉ chajournal.com/2025/12/18/s...

Thank you Cha, you are a treasure, this was so much fun to write! cc: @sunsetvisitor.studio

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘] In an exclusive essay, Nick Admussen reads the game 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎𝐱𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓 through immunity and memory, situating trauma, gender, and forgetting within the history of Hong Kong protest and the Chinese diaspora. @nadmussen.bsky.social ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/17/1... 。。

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘] In an exclusive essay, Nick Admussen reads the game 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎𝐱𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓 through immunity and memory, situating trauma, gender, and forgetting within the history of Hong Kong protest and the Chinese diaspora. @nadmussen.bsky.social ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/17/1... 。。

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Hilda Wong on 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 (2006), dir. Jia Zhangke: "This cultural monument documents the colossal human cost of the instrumentalisation of cultural landscapes for collective use, which displaced over one million people..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/16/s...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘—From Duch’s belated trial to an unpunished massacre, Cambodia’s justice appears selective and hollow. Visiting amid dynastic dictatorship, Daniel Gauss confronts poverty, impunity and a neglected monument to slain democrats. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/16/c...

When they can silence one voice, every voice becomes conditional.

Tim Murphy discusses Cecília Mello's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑖𝑎 𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑒: "The Italian neorealist Michelangelo Antonioni was a major influence on Jia. [...] This is evident not least in Jia’s frequent casting of his long-time leading actress, and wife, Zhao Tao ..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/15/j...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘—Tim Murphy discusses Cecília Mello's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑖𝑎 𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑒 (Bloomsbury, 2019): "Mello’s in-depth analysis offers an impressive interpretation of Jia’s work grounded, first, in theories of cinematic realism and “intermediality”..." ⧉ chajournal.com/2025/12/15/j...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄—Stuart Lau reflects on the Wang Fuk Court fire through Barthes’s notion that truth resides beyond the visible. Survivors’ anguished looks, the quiet disdain of volunteers, and students’ hand-drawn “Heaven has eyes” sign... ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/12/02/t...

[𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒] Serena De Marchi reviews Chi Ta-wei's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 (Columbia University Press, 2021), translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich: "The novel not only blurs the lines between human and non-human, but also between male & female[.]" ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2021/06/03/m...

[𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒] Serena De Marchi reviews Chi Ta-wei's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 (Columbia University Press, 2021), translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich: "The novel not only blurs the lines between human and non-human, but also between male & female[.]" ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2021/06/03/m...

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

My new essay on Hong Kong-based poet James Shea's book, Last Day of My Face, on @asiancha.bsky.social! chajournal.com/2025/12/12/l...

Hong Kong's Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine is accepting submissions of unpublished poems & poems newly translated into English on WHITE for inclusion in an upcoming issue of the magazine. Contributors will receive a complementary copy upon publication. Guidelines: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Abhinav Tulachan on Twinkle Khanna’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑖 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑑: "A former actress, newspaper columnist, and writer of books and stories on feminism, Khanna presents a collection of four stories that take readers across India..." ⧉ chajournal.com/2025/12/13/l...

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖] Dustin Pickering reviews Paritosh Sen’s 𝐴 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑦 𝑉𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 (CLASSIX, 2025): "The narrative centres on an Arjuna tree in the author’s Bangladeshi village." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/12/t... 。。。。。

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘] In Chris Song’s latest essay, James Shea’s 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑦 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑒 (Iowa University Press, 2025) is read in relation to Hong Kong as both a lived city and a literary space. @chrissonghk.bsky.social ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/12/l... 。。。。。

𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 ▞ Programme and abstracts: chajournal.com/wp-content/u... ▞ Event page: www.facebook.com/events/82183... 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝘄𝗼: 𝗙𝗿𝗶 𝟭𝟮 𝗗𝗲𝗰 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 Zoom Meeting: cuhk.zoom.us/j/99401766886 。

𝐖𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬: chajournal.com 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚@𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚.𝐜𝐨𝐦 。。。。。

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Jennifer Eagleton reads James Shea’s prize winning collection 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑦 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑒 (University of Iowa Press, 2025) as a study of solitude, mortality, fragmented identity. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.com/2025/12/08/m... 。。。。。

𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐴 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑉𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑦𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑢𝑚 ▞ Thursday 11 & Friday 12 December 2025 | Online ▞ Programme and abstracts: chajournal.com/wp-content/u... ▞ Event page: www.facebook.com/events/82183...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘—In Grace En-Yi Ting's first contribution to 𝐶ℎ𝑎, she traces how Hon Lai Chu's 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 (Two Lines Press, 2025), translated from the Chinese by Jacqueline Leung, entwines dystopian politics with fraught gendered authority. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/12/05/f...

Watching THE GAME OF WOOL (episode 5). One of the judges made an interesting remark: “It needs a little bit more abstraction to give it that realism.” Without knowing the knitting and crocheting context, how would you interpret this, using examples from your own experience?

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘—Daniel Gauss on Xu Hongfei’s early sculpture at the Guangzhou Museum of Art named Summer: "I began to sense that the sculpture was quietly resisting its audience, offering something far more serious than viewers assumed." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/12/04/x...

My further thoughts about the film ‘Pillion’ in response to some of the recent discussions. Thanks to @asiancha.bsky.social for publishing the short piece.

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄—𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘] @queercomrades.bsky.social reflects on how 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 (dir. Harry Lighton) extends the themes of Adam Mars-Jones’s 𝐵𝑜𝑥 𝐻𝑖𝑙𝑙 while engaging with current debates about BDSM representation and queer storytelling. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/12/04/r... 。。。。。

Can you think of a Chinese text made entirely of existing materials to present a social or political critique? An example: docsouth.unc.edu/neh/weld/wel...

Me! www.youtube.com/watch?v=seIe...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄—Stuart Lau reflects on the Wang Fuk Court fire through Barthes’s notion that truth resides beyond the visible. Survivors’ anguished looks, the quiet disdain of volunteers, and students’ hand-drawn “Heaven has eyes” sign... ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/12/02/t...

Amazed to be included. I csn't wait to read the full issue. 😄🌼