Author Archives: Tongyu Zhou

The growth of my camera roll has gradually slowed down by now, and I stop gawking at every neon sign and street cart. Instead of new stimulations, I now search for familiarity: the way tree roots refuse to stay underground … Continue reading →

Qianhai envisions the model, immaculate city, a simulacra of personified modernity itself. Designed to be eco-friendly and pedestrian-friendly, it boasts to be the perfect synthesis of technology and urban planning. “Maybe you will work here one day,” someone suggests. My … Continue reading →

In a sense, solitude in the modern metropolis is already a well-established and accepted notion. That is, the single-person apartment is common and often the most efficient mode of living, an option chosen by those who subscribe to the philosophy … Continue reading →

Someone suggests that identity is fluid enough an entity to be separate from the confines of language, but my mother tells me I sound different whenever I write to her in English. Her preference for the Chinese written form has … Continue reading →

The kind of love that can be successfully commercialized must contain some element of danger: a woman’s ruined reputation, a confession spoken too precariously, a fallen city. Liusu is a natural gambler in the sense that the fulfillment she derives … Continue reading →

Sugar cane tastes much sweeter than I can recall, so I suppose it’s alright that my right cheek has been aching all day. The lady who sold me the purple stems sliced them with such finesse that, for a brief … Continue reading →

Forest is an allusion to frenzy, disorder, the notion that surroundings are moving faster than characters in the scene. The surface interpretation of Wong Kar Wai is that he directs without a completed script and produces fragmented stories, but there … Continue reading →

In New York, the taxi drivers are particular on details, probing you on the exact time and place you decided that you wanted to use their services. During the ride, you take a call from your mother and they proceed … Continue reading →

A list of food that costs 10 HKD: some fish balls, a chicken kebab, a plain bowl of congee, a cup of coffee. Skip a day and the 20 HKD tier becomes available: 1 liter of milk, fried dumplings, BBQ … Continue reading →

Lao She’s prophetic novella describes a planet that is backwards and unaccommodating, but in truth, cats are more apathetic and lazy creatures. The black and white patterned calico that I spotted on my way to morning classes barely moved from … Continue reading →