Mesmerising Mythical Mayhem: Jentry Chau V.s The Underworld Part 1
There have been a slew of fantastic YA animation projects recently that have captured fan’s hearts, such as She-Ra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts and The Owl House, all of which I have loved, but none of them grabbed me by the face, and screamed at me “this has been made for you”, in the way that Jentry Chau vs the Underworld did. My excitement for the project was lit the moment I saw the announcement images and teasers, and I began to talk about it on social media, but duties and deadlines actually stopped me from sitting down and watching the show until Spring Festival. I was blown away, and consumed the whole thing in a couple of days. Like any rich banquet devoured so greedily, I knew I would have to sit and digest it before being able to convey how much I enjoyed it.
Posted in Articles and tagged Chinese, demons, Emmy's, fantasy, ghosts, horror, Jentry Chau, mythology, Netflix, occult, SFF, spirits, TV, underworld, YA
A Thousand Eyes and One
I had a lot of fun chatting to the lovely Tanya and Nikki for their speculative fiction book club, Wine On an Empty Stomach about Sinophagia. We talked about resonating aspects of The Waking Dream, the the terrifying Death of Nala, and the unique female voice in Immortal Beauty, also discussing translation and the great genre fiction out there, ending with their fun signature finish.
Posted in Events and tagged books, genre, horror, literature, POC, podcast, SFF, women
Chinese Horror Literature in Italy
I couldn’t find a better home for my Chinese horror collection than Italy, and I had the pleasure of being at the MUFANT in Turin, to talk about my experiences as an transcultural author, Chinese science fiction in Europe, Western Gothic and Chinese Gothic, and the unique features of the latter. It was a few weeks after Sinofagia, the Italian edition of my book was published in Italy, and the immense enthusiasm in the audience made everything that it took for the trip to happen worth it. I was also delighted to meet my publishers add editore, and sign some copies of my book in their bookshop.
Posted in Books, Events and tagged add editore, author, books, genre, gothic, horror, Italy, literature, MUFANT, museum, SFF, Sinofagia, translation, Turin
Brighton Book Festival 2025: Sinophagia
One of my highlights of 2025 was being invited to the Brighton Book Festival, whose motto is “making the marginalised mainstream”, to be part of their first ever event on horror literature, an apt occasion to discuss my anthology Sinophagia, the first curated collection of translated contemporary horror from China. Alongside two wonderful fellow authors, we read extracts from our books, and discussed topics such as female horror fiction, horror literature in relation to the exploration of facets of human nature, horror fiction and the writing of grief, followed by some great questions from a very interested audience, and signing. The venue was packed with an audience that did very much, go in there!
Posted in Events and tagged anthology, books, festival, fiction, horror, literature, SFF, women, writing
Birmingham Science Fiction Group May 2025: Chinese Horror and Sinophagia
It was a pleasure to be with the Birmingham Science Fiction Group in person to give a talk about modern Chinese horror fiction and discuss my collection Sinophagia, in particular the two horror sci-fi tales featured in it, The Waking Dream and Ti’naang. The event was packed and attended by readers of different generations. This group is one of the longest running science fiction groups in the U.K., it was a great pleasure to speak with my hosts as well as the group’s founders. I will be writing about this soon.
Posted in Events and tagged books, fiction, horror, literature, SFF
On Chinese Senses of Horror (British Fantasy Society Guest Blog)
When I put the words, “Chinese” and “Horror” together, what do you think of? Those long robed and confusingly named hopping vampires? 18th century tales of beautiful female ghosts? Or the latest tirade in the popular press regarding China’s alleged nefarious intentions? Chinese horror as a subgenre of literature is very much underexplored, and as a collector of contemporary strange tales, and a writer of China’s cultures, I am on a mission to encourage the reading, enjoyment and development of this fascinating regional genre. One of the first conditions, where I must ask readers to do some work, is to set aside your preconceptions about the nature of horror fiction, and consider, what is the Chinese Sense of Horror? Read the rest of the article here
Posted in Articles and tagged books, fantasy, fiction, horror, literature, SFF
SRFC January 2025: Sinophagia
It was an immense pleasure to return to the SRFC, which hosted a session for Sinopticon previously, to talk about Sinophagia, where I spoke to the host Caro about the challenges of pulling the collection together and “what is horror?” in China and the Anglophone West, as well as what we find frightening, and what the themes in the book tell us about contemporary Chinese society. Equally an absolute pleasure to share the stage with fellow author T.L. Huchu.
Posted in Events and tagged anthology, book club, books, genre, horror, literature, SFF
On Chinese Gothic part 1
When thinking about gothic, people tend of think of soaring castles and misshapen stone spires. But the Chinese have a sense of the gothic, which has been quietly flourishing in recent storytelling like moss on the gravestone, and harks back to literary traditions. Instead of derelict abbeys and dungeoned great houses, we have ruined temples and equally labyrinthine ancient mansions, usually enclosured with courtyards and gardens sprawling into unfathomable depths. Instead of the ghostly woman in black, we have the ethereal woman in white, for white is the colour of death and mourning for the Chinese, the white-robed woman often symbolising the innocent and pure. She is ever briefly glimpsed, through abandon quarters and desolate fields, singing, weeping, or brushing her hair. In traditional stories like Pu Songling’s Liaozhai, she’s mostly a femme fatale, a ghost or a fox demon, luring men to their demise, or leaving them to wake up cold in cobwebbed ruins. Contemporary Chinese horror inherits this aesthetic, a prime example being Cai Jun’s novella Huangcun (which you can read in Sinophagia), but the emphasis is placed more on the phantomising of victims by traditional societal constraints and expectations. This is evident in the story of the vanishing brides in Snow Tower, the ‘ghostly figure’ at the Long Clan mansion leads the protagonists to eventually discover that the women had been murdered and buried by the clan’s deranged leader on their stormy island, where the tombs of the clan’s female infants lie hidden in the underground caves. Continue Reading →
Posted in Articles and tagged books, Chinese, drama, fiction, gothic, horror, literature, storytelling, TV
Chinese Monsters IV: Mythological Creatures
Having explored in the first three articles of this mini-series, deadly demons, friendly fiends, gorgeous ghouls and saucy spooks in Chinese supernatural lore, I come to the mythical monsters.
Posted in Curated & Translated and tagged china, Chinese, creatures, culture, horror, monsters, mythical, myths, supernatural
On Horror and Identity
I love speaking at conventions. This whole career as a sinologist started with talks to anime crowds about the films, foods, myth and music of China. In the midst of the buzz around my upcoming collection, Sinophagia, I was excited to be included on the panel of “Horror and Identity” as part of this year’s Flight of Foundry, especially with such a diverse collection of fellow guests to talk about the genre, and how our lived experiences and outlooks informed it.
Posted in Events and tagged china, Chinese, fiction, genre, horror, identity, literature, SFF, translation