Asia
China, photographed by Isaac Ohringer
Railway Guerrilla Stories Retold in China
Remake after remake concerning the role played by China’s northwestern guerrilla fighters during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45) show a cinematic tradition that is still going strong in the 70 years since its inception: in this article, Staff Writer Bingbing Shi reviews Railway Heroes (2021), a remake of Zhao Ming’s 1956 classic, Railway Guerrilla, as well as the evolution of the Chinese ‘resistance genre’ as a whole.
Enter Winter in Sokcho, Elisa Shua Dusapin’s luminous, icy debut
Daphne Pleming reviews Elisa Shua Dusapin’s book Winter in Sokcho, exploring how the author prompts us to consider how we perceive ourselves and the people around us.
The Treatment of Fact in Saturday Fiction
Staff Writer for East Asia, Bingbing Shi, writes about the blurring of fact and fiction in Lou Ye’s Saturday Fiction (2019), starring Gong Li. Set in Shanghai during the war, Lou Ye’s espionage thriller is proving to be both popular and controversial in China.
‘Red light, green light’ - Uncovering the True Appeal of Squid Game
Staff Writer for East Asia, Hannah Kang Wolter, uncovers the true appeal of the West’s latest obsession - Squid Game.