Having read Liu Cixin's the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy...

"At least 10 scientists tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared in recent years, sparking federal investigation"

𝐍𝐄𝐖—Jennifer Junwa Lau reviews 𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑔𝑒, eds. Jian Xu, Glen Donnar, & Divya Garg: "It aims to foreground Asia within celebrity studies, a field that the editors and several contributors argue has long been dominated by Western narratives."

chajournal.com/2026/04/22/a...

We are pleased to announce that the latest issue of Hong Kong Studies is now available. hks.ojhhk.com/EN/home

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 | 𝟏𝟎 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝟓 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝟏

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖] “A City in Panorama: Hong Kong Through Keith Macgregor’s Lens in 𝐴𝑛 𝐸𝑦𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔” by Simon Patton—"It was Martin Booth who once observed that the view of Victoria Harbour regularly reduced friends to the verge of tears."

𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊: chajournal.com/2026/04/22/e...

[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “For Novice and Expert: Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 (𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑠𝑘)” by Susan Blumberg-Kason 茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “For Novice and Expert: Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s Everything You Wanted to Know About China (But Were Afraid to Ask)” by Susan Blum…

Delighted to have two reviews of my very short new book, come out in Cha: chajournal.com/2026/04/20/e... (review by Jennifer Eagleton, a versatile & thoughtful Hong Kong-based writer) & chajournal.com/2026/04/20/a... (a review by Susan Blumberg-Kason, a versatile & thoughtful Chicago-based writer)

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social: “A City in Panorama: Hong Kong Through Keith Macgregor’s Lens in 𝐴𝑛 𝐸𝑦𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔” by Simon Patton: "Many photographs are concerned with the lives of fisherfolk... with numerous depictions of working life at sea and of dragon-boat races."

chajournal.com/2026/04/22/e...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋 “The Foodie Poo Review: Under the Table with Mojo Kaye”, trans. Sadie Kaye: "In smart-casual HK restaurants, the rule is that you cannot sprint. Sprinting in a crowded smart-casual restaurant is the fastest way to get you ejected."

chajournal.com/2026/04/22/f...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social—Pains, Survival, and Self-Publishing: Gurpreet Kaur Khosa’s 𝑃𝑎𝑖𝑛 & 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐼𝑛ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠” by Michael Tsang: "This collection stands as both a testament to survival in the face of endometriosis and a love note to Kaur’s younger self."

𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊: chajournal.com/2026/04/21/i...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖—Rituparna Mukherjee reviews Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe’s 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑙’𝑠 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑘𝑒 (2026): "... explores the violence embedded in colonial food pathways and the indelible residue they have left upon postcoloniality."

𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊: chajournal.com/2026/04/21/r...
。

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍] In this feature, we present an interview with Jennifer Wong on her new collection 𝐿𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟 (Nine Arches Press, 2026), conducted by our staff reviewer Michael Tsang.

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: chajournal.com/2026/04/20/l...
。。。。。

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘] Qinxian Bonnie Ran examines Amitav Ghosh’s incorporation of Cantonese into English in 𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑚𝑜𝑘𝑒. She argues that the novel’s multilingual Fanqui City creates a space where economic interests displace racial hierarchies.

𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊: chajournal.com/2026/04/20/r...

Jeremiah Dutch: "It cannot be said often enough that war is largely the folly of world leaders. However, it is ordinary people who suffer, such as Japanese citizens following their government’s misguided militarism and the almost unimaginable horror of the bombings."

chajournal.com/2026/04/20/w...

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒] Jonathan Han interprets Jack Ng’s 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔, a Chinese New Year film, as an elegy for a "vanishing" East Tsim Sha Tsui: "Visit it then or today and the area appears to be an anomaly."

chajournal.com/2026/04/20/n...

In our third review of Zheng Liu’s 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑠:𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 & 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 (@columbiaup.bsky.social),Raymond Pun,a librarian who spent two years working in an academic library in Shanghai, has interesting insights to share.

𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊: chajournal.com/2026/04/20/l...

Jennifer Eagleton thinks that reading Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 (2026) allows you to understanding China beyond the headlines: "Wasserstrom strips away the complexities of this vast nation to present the essential elements[.]"

chajournal.com/2026/04/20/e...

Susan Blumberg-Kason reads Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 as suitable for both the novice & the expert:"Chinese politics is one such subject that can give one pause.It is common knowledge that the three Ts […] are especially sensitive."
chajournal.com/2026/04/20/a...

Susan Blumberg-Kason reads Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 as suitable for both the novice & the expert:"Chinese politics is one such subject that can give one pause.It is common knowledge that the three Ts […] are especially sensitive."
chajournal.com/2026/04/20/a...

Films that you watched just to “get it out of the way” because people talk about them, and you want to see how bad they are—even though you have a very clear sense they’re going to be pretentious and bad.

I’ll start: Maestro.

I wrote something.

www.facebook.com/share/p/1BJM...

this makes moi happy

SOMEONE wrote something:

/// In the story “Have You Heard of ‘Ancient Glory’?” a couple scrapes together a down payment on a new apartment in the western outskirts of a Chinese city. The complex, Ancient Glory, looks impeccable. It is also dead quiet. ///

𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄: 3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily...

The Penguin Book of the International Short Story by Rabih Alameddine, John Freeman: 9780593834138 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Literary Hub The best in short fiction from around the world, from celebrated anthologist and author John Freeman and award-winning novelist Rabih Alameddine ...

It's not really a day for announcements -- but my translation of Diao Dou's 刁斗 short story "Squatting" 蹲着 is in The Penguin Book of the International Short Story, edited by @rabihalameddine.bsky.social and John Freeman and out today.

𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social—Jonathan Han on Leslie Shimotakahara's latest novel, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 (Cormorant Books), came out on Saturday 4 April 2026. "... deftly oscillates between the estrangement of two brothers and the history of Japanese Canadians."

⧉ 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: chajournal.com/2026/04/08/l...
。。。。。

book cover of railsong by rahul bhattacharya

*The* Great Indian Novel? Perhaps. *A* great Indian novel? No doubt about it. One of the most engrossing novels I have read in a long time.

wow!

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐂𝐇𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒—Rebekah Chan reads Gigi L. Leung’s 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 (Riverhead Books, 2026), trans. Jennifer Feeley, as a feminist reclamation of Hong Kong’s 2019 protests. She pays attention to the novel’s focus on female experience.

⧉ 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: chajournal.com/2026/04/07/l...

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 @asiancha.bsky.social 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐘] Both films, Peixuan argues, offer defiant modes of reimagining existence within Thailand’s impoverished, long-exploited northeast: one through dreaming, the other through relentless vigilance.

⧉ chajournal.com/2026/04/07/t...

Leslie Shimotakahara's new novel 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 came out a few days ago. We're pleased to present her essay, in which shw reflects on how a childhood encounter with an institutionalised great-uncle, silenced by internment-era injustice, became her book.

⧉ 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: chajournal.com/2026/04/07/l...

Simon Liu’s 2019 short film 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 8 is a mesmerising portrayal of Hong Kong through a montage of unsettling disruptions to the city’s urban infrastructure. Scenes of ordinary daily life are accompanied by distorted footage that evoke a city on the edge of unrest.

www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

“I resent the fact that for so many years of my life, I did not know bún chả existed – how many bowls of bún chả could I have eaten? How many bowls have I already missed?”
— Nguyen Qui Duc

My latest essay is about Hanoi's most addictive dish.
👇🏼👇🏾👇🏽👇