𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃—We are delighted to welcome back Cyril Camus with his most ambitious contribution to date, a review of Johannes Schönherr’s 𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎. It is a sustained exploration of how a nation constructs and mythologises itself through the moving image. ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/10/11/k...

𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐟𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧, published in 𝑈𝑠𝑎𝑤𝑎 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤’s 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐱 series, is a work of witness that gathers the voices of Afghan women writing through fear, exile and erasure. Curated by 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐤𝐡𝐚 𝐒𝐚𝐰𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐚. ⧉ 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: usawa.in/matchbox/edi... 。。。。。

🥰 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄. These recent scholarly books reveal how love in China is shaped by political ideals, social inequalities and the shifting ethics of modern life. If you would like to read and review any of these titles for @asiancha.bsky.social, please email [email protected] for further discussion.

Pictured: More than ten years ago, I was reading one of the books by László Krasznahorkai in Paris. I also love Seiobo There Below & Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heaven, as well as The Turin Horse, dir. Béla Tarr, w. a screenplay by László Krasznahorkai &Tarr. www.facebook.com/AsianCha.Jou...

The new Nobel laureate Laszlo Krasznahorkai has a pretty interesting novel about traveling to meet contemporary Chinese poets (Xi Chuan, Ouyang Jianghe, others) called _Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens_. Lucas Klein's review in @asiancha.bsky.social here: www.asiancha.com/content/view...

𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑷𝑶𝑬𝑴𝑺—Hong Kong's Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine 聲韻詩刊 invites submissions of previously unpublished poems in English and poems newly translated from other languages into English exploring "Apocalypse" in its 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐋, 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒. Guidelines: www.facebook.com/VoiceAndVers...

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 to László Krasznahorkai, awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature. While most of Krasznahorkai’s fiction is set in Europe or expresses more universal existential themes, a few of his works reach out to East Asia with striking intensity. www.facebook.com/AsianCha.Jou...

𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪—Abhik Ganguly on Kiriti Sengupta’s 𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑜𝑒𝑚𝑠 (Transcendent Zero Press), which "traces the career of a polyglot Indian Bengali poet & the quiet arc of sensibility that binds Vedāntic and Tantric spiritual influences, ..." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/09/k...

𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐄𝐌𝐒—Hong Kong's 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine invites submissions of previously unpublished poems in English and poems newly translated from other languages into English exploring "Apocalypse" in its global, collective dimensions. www.facebook.com/share/p/1HzF...

𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪—Nazir Wani reviews Mallika Bhaumik’s 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝐽𝑎𝑟 (Red River Press, 2025): "A life worth writing about need not be perfect or prosperous." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/08/m... 。。。。。

𝑇𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 unfurls a nightmarish vision of lovers dissolving into a single body. When it opened in China on 19 September, the film was reshaped: not only were its sex scenes excised, but an AI face-swapping sleight turned a same-sex wedding into a heterosexual union. www.facebook.com/AsianCha.Jou...

[𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪—In Charlie Ng’s review of Hon Lai-chu’s 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 (translated by Jacqueline Leung, Two Lines Press, 2025) and Michael Shanks’s 𝑇𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 (2025), the search for one’s “other half” is reimagined as both yearning & undoing. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/08/b...

[@asiancha.bsky.social 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘—𝗧𝗜𝗙𝗙 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱] We're pleased to present a conversation between our resident film critic, Nirris Nagendrarajah, and director Kalainithan Kalaichelvan. Their exchange explores 𝐾𝑎𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑦's defiant reimagining of the Tamil matriarch. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/07/k... 。。。

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—In this conversation with Sadie Kaye, 77-year-old Hong Kong artist George Tang Kwok-wing reflects on his seven decades in art in the lead-up to his participation in Fine Art Asia 2025. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/07/g... 。。。。。

[​@asiancha.bsky.social 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘] Our resident critic Nirris Nagendrarajah reviews 𝑁𝑜 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 (2025), dir. Park Chan-wook: "... the audience feel like confidants to the director’s vision, which appears to be viewed as almost godlike & beyond reproach." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/07/n...

Cha @asiancha.bsky.social contributor Maureen Tai @maureentai.com: "I was in Penang and saw this and thought of Cha." 😍🥰😎

For the Mid-Autumn Festival, I translated the 17th century failson, epicure, and memoirist Zhang Dai's account of the annual Mid-Autumn singing competition on Tiger Hill in Suzhou. www.burninghou.se/p/mid-autumn...

I understand people saying - but this may have been taken out of context - but I am arguing with this specific meme circulating on social media

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: Tiffany Troy speaks with Chenxin Jiang about her rendering of Yau Ching's 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡. Jiang describes Yau Ching’s language as "Cantonese-inflected standard Chinese" because... ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/05/c... 。。。。。

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄: In this interview, poet & critic Tiffany Troy speaks with translator Chenxin Jiang abt her recent rendering of 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 (Zephyr Press) by Hong Kong poet, filmmaker,& scholar Yau Ching. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/10/05/c...

Mori Arimasa’s memoir 𝐵𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑎𝑏𝑦𝑙𝑜𝑛 (trans. J. Thomas Rimer) and Anri Yasuda’s study 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 engage Japan’s relationship to European aesthetics. If you're interested in reading one or both of these books and writing about them for @asiancha.bsky.social, pls email [email protected]

The documentary 𝑶𝒓𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍: 2+2=5 looks at the last months of George Orwell’s life as he completes his unsettling novel, 1984. The director Raoul Peck, celebrated for 𝐼 𝐴𝑚 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑁𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑜 and 𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠, and more, brings his questioning gaze to Orwell. More: collider.com/orwell-two-p...

[𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪] In her reflection on 𝑌𝑎𝑡 𝑌𝑎𝑡 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚, dir. Eva Yip Man-lai, Dawna Fung reveals how the work transforms theatre into a sanctuary, where play revives innocence, wounds find voice, & Hong Kong’s tender spirit. ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/10/03/y...

Looking forward to being back at Stanford on December 2 for this very special event, on a program about Chinese typewriters, Lin Yutang, and all sorts of related issues with @tsmullaney.bsky.social @yangyangcheng.bsky.social & other special people cc @afrawang.bsky.social @koxinga.bsky.social

[𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪] In her reflection on 𝑌𝑎𝑡 𝑌𝑎𝑡 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚, dir. Eva Yip Man-lai, Dawna Fung reveals how the work transforms theatre into a sanctuary, where play revives innocence, wounds find voice, & Hong Kong’s tender spirit. ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/10/03/y...

Writing for @asiancha.bsky.social, Michael Londra appraises Thuận’s 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑎̀𝑖 𝐺𝑜̀𝑛 (trans. Nguyễn An Lỳ) as a time-skipping detective satire: a daughter investigates her mother’s death while confronting communist & capitalist hypocrisies, diasporic ... ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/10/03/e...

The legendary 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐊𝐰𝐚𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 has been found. On 2 Dec, Stanford will reintroduce it to the world, featuring: Tom Mullaney, Yangyang Cheng, Emma Teng, David Brock, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Willie Liu, & Martin Wong www.eventbrite.com/e/mingkwai-r... 。。。

These books open windows onto the intellectual and cultural worlds of early modern China, revealing how texts, images, & encounters with other traditions shaped knowledge and expression. If you're interested in reviewing any of these titles for @asiancha.bsky.social, please email me: [email protected]

these two sentences are slightly problematic, no? of course they are not really problematic, once you know about China

So now I live in Munich - please give me your suggestions for good bars, cinemas, bookshops, arts spaces, cafes, etc etc. It’s a very big city to find your feet in! Even better if you live here and you want to meet up!

𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪—Jennifer Eagleton on Mani Rao’s 𝑆𝑜 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 (HarperCollins India), a selection of poems spanning almost 40 years & drawing from eight of her earlier collections alongside new work. This is our second review of the collection. ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/09/26/s...

The full 28-minute Jimmy Kimmel monologue. Please share.

A 71 year old cleaner at a office building has been fined for "littering" while she was readying to move the collected trash to the collection centre.

My recent collection Destination Macao (Blacksmith Books) in LA Review of Books… “French’s work introduces the reader to a wide range of subjects in immersive and rewarding prose, with a storyteller’s eye for mise-en-scène and a nose for the telling anecdote.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/expa...

My grandparents had a bunch of these neatly folded in a closet for literal decades after they came to the UK Seen many Hong Kongers with them in the last few years in the UK Diasporas of many places know what these bags are & what they represent Louis Vuitton bringing out a $3k appropriation😡 🤮

My tribute to Paul Cohen as historian & mentor to many www.asianstudies.org/in-memoriam-... cc @lmansley.bsky.social

Some travel coming up soon, so nice to have airplane & train reading sorted due to today’s mail, thanks @fsgbooks.bsky.social for the advance copy of the new @leaypi.bsky.social book (that’s out in the UK & getting strong reviews and coming out here in November)

Literary Chinese for a foggy morning, courtesy of Xin Qiji 辛棄疾 (1140-1207): 何人半夜推山去？ 四面浮雲猜是汝。 Someone came in the night and stole our mountain away. Drifting clouds surround me. (Was it you?)

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—In his review of 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐺𝑎𝑧𝑎: 𝐴 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒; 𝑈𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑠 𝐵𝑒𝑒𝑛,Kabir Deb offers an unflinching meditation on the cruelties of war & the fragile defiance of literature. ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/09/22/l...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—In his review of 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐺𝑎𝑧𝑎: 𝐴 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒; 𝑈𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑠 𝐵𝑒𝑒𝑛,Kabir Deb offers an unflinching meditation on the cruelties of war & the fragile defiance of literature. ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/09/22/l...

Jeremy Murray at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social with a lively review of Destination Macao by @chinarhyming.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/expa... (and some ending comments on Her Lotus Year by the same author)

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭. We hope to feature reviews of these works, which trace the remarkable journey of Chinese script across time and space, in @asiancha.bsky.social (2025/26). If you would like to engage with any of the titles, please send an email to [email protected].

🧵We invite reviews of these volumes that shed light on Taiwan’s White Terror, an era of authoritarian rule scarred by censorship, persecution, & silence. If you're interested in contributing a review for @asiancha.bsky.social , please write to [email protected] to discuss further.

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Ramzzi Fariñas on Lav Diaz's 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛 (2025), highlighting the director's most controversial choice: denying the historical existence of Lapulapu, the Filipino who slew Magellan. ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/09/20/m... 。。。。。

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍. These works explore the lives of single women across diverse Asian contexts, examining how they navigate social expectations and the pursuit of autonomy. We'd love to publish reviews of these books in @asiancha.bsky.social. If you are interested, please email [email protected].

On the occasion of Jeffrey Yang’s translation of 𝑆𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 being shortlisted for the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, we invite you to revisit Jeff Tompkins​'s piece on the book for @asiancha.bsky.social:"The final canto finds the poet relocated to Hong Kong..." chajournal.blog/2025/02/02/b...

/ Sze wants to focus on a passion going back more than a half-century to his undergraduate years – translation. He remembers reading some English editions of Chinese poetry, finding the work “antiquated & dated” & deciding to translate some of it himself[.] / ⧉ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Alicia Izharuddin on 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛 (2025), dir. Lav Diaz. "The screening I attended on a Saturday afternoon was nearly full &, remarkably, attentive: every spectator remained in their seat until the closing credits had finished rolling." ⧉ chajournal.blog/2025/09/16/m...

𝗡𝗘𝗪 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪—Kabir Deb reviews Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑛 𝐼𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (Penguin Random House India, 2025): "... crime becomes a singular theory, and every character is led by its temptation." ⧉ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: chajournal.blog/2025/09/12/i...