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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of east asian short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

East asian Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Discover the best new stories by East Asian authors.

East asian Short Stories – Page 2

Huā Kāi Liǎng Duǒ: A Flower Blooms in Two Places.

Weekly Contest #359

The wind couldn't decide what it wanted to be. It whipped across the green with the indecision of early spring, flirting with the warmth of a coming summer one moment, then turning sharp with the winter's last crisp bite the next. The whole park moved with it: daffodils nodding their idiot heads, a discarded crisp packet tumbling end over end like the tiny gymnast. The new leaves on the plain tree were shivering in applause. Behind her, the painted paper brolly rocked on its prop. A central pole swayed in slow, deliberate arcs. The tip descr...

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A Tale of the Chinese Zodiac Empress

Weekly Contest #359

Terrifying screams filled the air outside. Lacey closed her hazel eyes, clutching her necklace in the women’s restroom. Heavy footsteps echoed like a stampede of wildebeests spiraling out of control, causing her heart to beat faster from fear and desperation. Her sweaty auburn bangs glued to her forehead from the panic attack and heated weather. Praying her choice of a hiding place would save her, Lacey reflected on her normal life as a newly turned 16-year-old with friends just an hour ago, before everything went to hell at the tiger exhib...

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The Martini Effect

Weekly Contest #358

Several times a year, divers go missing trying to visit the underwater Megalithic complex in Yonaguni Island. Dr Nobuo Kimura, however, was unfazed by the risk: he has been diving these waters since the ancient structure was first discovered in the mid-eighties. He painstakingly mapped the pyramid-like monolith entirely from memory before any resistivity imaging scanner was even invented. The only aspect of the submerged ruin left to discover was its deep subterranean chambers, below the foundation… Well, at least Dr Kimura was the only one...

38 likes 21 comments 21
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As The Tea Brews

Weekly Contest #357

It is an early fall morning. The air is starting to crisp as the wind blows cool. Leaves from the bamboo thicket begin to find a home in a clearing. A perfectly round clearing that houses a zen garden with a quiet stream running through it. A small stone path from the garden leads to a quaint little house buried in the bamboo. Here lived Eiji. An old samurai who’s left the world of violence for peace. Eiji was a general in the shoguns last war. He lead legions of men to victory, allowing his lord to take over Japan. After his duty was compl...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Joss paper and jade

Weekly Contest #356

The rows of washed-out pink chairs were mostly occupied. The hot humid air filled with traces of incense, burned paper and disinfectant. Ghost Month didn’t make it easier to breathe during the hottest time of the year. Mary’s eyes scanned the chairs and discovered an empty seat. The carrier straps rubbed against her sweaty skin with every step she took. Passing the rows of coughing and sneezing people, the bundle pressed against her chest started to stir. Her hand patted the back of the carrier. Her steps changed into a slight bouncing movem...

12 likes 4 comments 4
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The Candidates

Weekly Contest #355

Dowager Empress Xiao adjusted herself in her seat and without asking, her head lady-in-waiting repositioned her headdress to give it better stay on her thinning hair. “Thank you, Lingli.” Her lady-in-waiting bowed and returned to her position. Waiting was hard on them; the dowager empress’s knees hurt if she sat for too long without stretching them– they were already starting to ache, and the others hadn’t even arrived– and her head lady-in-waiting worried that her lady would rather keep her pride than her joints intact. Neither spoke, and t...

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Snow at the Yalu

Weekly Contest #355

Soldiers waited along the Yalu River, expecting an announcement from President Truman or General MacArthur at any time about their total victory in Korea. The Yalu was beautiful, but it brought no comfort. China, on the other side, and General MacArthur did not want the Chinese to enter the war, but he did so privately. He often requested permission to invade Manchuria, and would not reprimand anyone who might go in there and kick ass. The US-led UN forces pushed the invading KPA, or North Korean Army, from the Pusan Perimeter in south-east ...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Onogoroshima

Weekly Contest #353

From treasured annals of the Kojiki, to the hallowed tales of the Nihon Shoki, on an island named Onogoro far from the lands of the rising sun, where the whipping winds are overeager and the waves are high, there sits a palace of two halves. A curious fog wraps around this place. It is not a place of mortal men, nor have the likes of men ever set foot here. But today it will play home to guests who have come for a tea ceremony enormously long in the making, for the male god Izanagi-no-Mikoto to invite his sister-wife Inazami-no-Mikoto back t...

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Where the Sun Goes to Hide

Weekly Contest #352

"Tell me a secret, Beni." Beni only half-noticed what had been said to him. His mind was caught elsewhere, somewhere scarlet and bloated. He glanced across at Aminata, and the departing sun glinted off her deep brown eyes, brown like rich soil. Her irises reflected the mangrove and teak trees enclosing their private clearing. Aminata propped herself up on one elbow, her oiled curls cascading over her shoulders. She gazed out at the sun, beyond the jungle, which murmured with the calls of monkeys and peafowls, elephants and insects, and beyon...

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Paper Wings

Weekly Contest #352

Ren commands the paper into intricate folds. The amber sunlight streaking through the window by his desk illuminates the softness of his dark eyes. Serious. Meticulous. Inspired. His collection of origami figures stands proud against the shelves. An army of parchment. A testament of creativity. An undying respect for tradition. Ren’s smile curves as the structure breathes into the familiar shape of a crane. Birds of grace. Harbingers of peace. The key holders to good fortune. The crisp, colored paper gleams a steady, humble hue of crimson as...

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The Woman Who Wouldn’t Sign Her Name

Weekly Contest #351

The Woman Who Wouldn’t Sign Her Name The first time my mother said it, I thought she was joking. “That’s not mine.” She held the pages the way you hold something you suspect might be dirty… carefully, at a slight distance, her fingertips barely touching the edges. Two sheets of yellowing paper, clipped at the corner with a rusting binder clip, the ink faded to the colour of old tea but still perfectly legible. I had found them that morning inside a biscuit tin at the back of her wardrobe, buried beneath a tangle of scarves she no longer wor...

20 likes 8 comments 8
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The Kiss of the Cherry Blossom Petals

Weekly Contest #351

3 months, 6 days and 12 hours. That's how long it's been since I heard her voice beckoning me to hold her, when the world felt dark. To hold her, when she was tired. To hold her, because she would miss her mother. To hold her, because she just wanted me close. “Shoto,” she would whisper in my ear, “do you know what time it is?” would be how she summoned me when the house was quiet enough for us to be alone together like that. I sit by her, with nothing but the sound of the ventilator hanging onto her every breath. I used to watch her slee...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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Operation: Lunch Break Hostage

Weekly Contest #350

I’ve been going to this place for a while now. These ladies are telling me to “choose the work I like” and always stopping me from doing the fun stuff. I don’t think they understand their own system. They told me to call them teacher. It feels like an unnecessary protocol. On top of it, I have to be there without mommy or daddy. Highly suspicious… Mommy has been busy with the two babies, so I was hanging out with Daddy most of the time. He was reading to me from Thomas. What is the fuss about Thomas? I like Percy more… Today, mommy is puttin...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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Lingering Haze

Weekly Contest #349

Sensitive content: Organized crime “The cured water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant radioactive reactors meets the safety standards and has been released…” I turn off the TV immediately. I actually hate the colorful Japanese TV shows and sometimes watch them to practice my Japanese. I apply a thick layer of sunscreen on my face. I put the long SPF protection pants on and look for my favorite protection sleeves for like 10 minutes. Where are they? I pick up another pair, because by now I have about five. It is over 45 degrees ...

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Merlion Dreams

Weekly Contest #349

31st of April Today is April 31. I still can’t believe it! They really changed the dates. But if you think about it, it makes so much sense. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event! I asked Nainai, if she’s excited to witness this change. She only nodded. I think I saw tears in her eyes. Never mind! I know it’s important. I know the government is going to bring further great ideas forward. Just like Pa, I’m going to help build a better future. 4th of May I’ve packed everything and we’re ready to leave. Everyone except for Nainai. She doesn’t want t...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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