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

410+ 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 27 of 28

Mandarins in China Town

Submitted to Contest #65

I tugged at my mother’s hand. “I'm not feeling well, mummy."“Honey, we just got here.” She squeezed my fingers gently.I look down at my Mulan costume and shrugged. “I know.”It was October 31st and my mother had agreed to take me Trick or Treating in London's China Town. But until now, with the moon pale, I never noticed the numerous Guanyins sitting outside each door. Guardian spirits, but who knew whether it was entry or exit that was forbidden?Painted faces stared out of the mini altars, back-lit by red lights. The female buddha, Guanyin, ...

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World does not operate in solo mode!

Submitted to Contest #66

** Does the world operate in a way we all think and act only for ourselves always, or the opposite is true many times? The anti-hero Balu finds out in this story about video-games, after he tried to cheat his way to victory when the game was on mid-way. ** An hour since 'War with Azoora' had commenced! To Balu, it had given complete satisfaction over acing the first 4 levels, the levels where the warrior player's astuteness is kept in check via unidentifiable quicksands, flying dragons and the risk of getting roasted from the fire emi...

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Adventure turned into adversity

Submitted to Contest #65

“No.. , no, don’t you dare to think any stupid thing like that” Sarah denied my request while putting a book into the shelf of our collage library.  I was determined to make her agree to come with me for this once in a life adventure.  So I went on insisting... “Hey, listen naa... you know there will be no mistake, even no risk in it, I promise!”, I said with full confidence in my voice. “Why do you always have to do such stupid stuff? Can’t you act and live like a normal girl!?” There was tiredness in her voice. “See my friend, I ...

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Out on a Limb

Submitted to Contest #65

It had been half an hour since I had sat before my laptop vacillating between posting my invitation for an evening at the graveyard with me...or not posting it at all."Come on, Samantha, stop shilly-shallying or I'll step right in and decide for you," my impatient twin sister Thea called from the kitchen."Why don't you mind your own business?" I complained secretly. Hrmph. How can twin sisters be so alike and so different at the same time. Thea was outspoken, I am reticent and calculating, careful about everything I said and did, except when...

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No Man's Land

Submitted to Contest #65

His headlight was focusing on the twigs placed abruptly on the track. They did not seem to have fallen off naturally from the trees canopying the graveyard. It was as if someone had left those twigs to indicate a direction.Iqbal muttered, “I think these guys left a track. We have to spend our night here until we see and record this transaction. Ambrose please click photos for evidence.”“But Iqbal, this is unofficial. We can’t possibly produce this evidence to the Commissioner. Until we find something concrete. Let’s not fall into confirmatio...

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The Underworld Smuggler

Submitted to Contest #65

The night falls, Yanlin and Shenzi are ready.They laid down in two empty lots of graves they dug earlier, a pile of joss paper smoldering on the ground nearby. The two close their eyes as they each place a paper talisman onto their foreheads. Tonight, they will be as the dead. Moments later, the Heralds of Underworld have arrived. Grotesque creatures with heads of oxen and horses, they came brandishing their spears and halberds. Amidst the grunts and whinnying, the souls in the cemetery are escorted to Underworld, Yanlin and Shenzi...

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Years passed

Submitted to Contest #64

"She was married off to a man thrice her age. Obviously, without her consent. She was kind of paralysed to the situation... she was young.. very young... and a captive of the affluent. It was, as a consequence of her father's debt what she had to pay off through her marriage. After some days of her wedding... "His condition is beyond repair", the doctor said with a grief as he examined her husband. ....." "What happened to him, granny?" "He died sweety... of plague... it was a pandemic of that time... spread like a fire... blazed off innumer...

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Punjabi taste of Malaysia

Submitted to Contest #63

The girl, who lived with her family in Pakistan, was living day and night in a backward area where food and hunger was considered more than education. Mehak was a lower middle class girl. Mehak ,her mother and grandfather was living with her uncle and aunt and their family (her three daughters) in a house of four marlas . No one except her grandfather loved her . She was known as a burden for her aunt and uncle and was not considered good like others. After the death of her father she had no one even her mother couldn’t do anything . But Meh...

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The Gift of Happiness

Submitted to Contest #63

Opening the black gates of the open area inside the shopping complex, Shubhroto firmly held his belongings under his arms. There was hardly anyone in the complex yet, as it was merely 7.30 am. In the shopping complex where Shubhroto and his wife Swati used to run their coffee shop, most of the showrooms and shops would normally open much later. Shubhroto having retired from the army about a decade back, still followed an active regime. Although being in their late fifties, age has taken its toll on both of them. Swati taking heavy breat...

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The Third Lotus Prince

Submitted to Contest #63

Trigger warning: Description of suicide, not super graphic, but just something to be warned about.By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. All around me, my temple had gone up in flames.However, we are not up to that part yet.Let us start, as all lives start – with my birth.My Mother, Lady Yin, was pregnant with me for three years and six months.The night before I was born, she had a dream. There was a Taoist, he placed something in her bosom and told her it was a child she should take.My Mother, probably half sick of this pre...

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"The journey mate"

Submitted to Contest #63

"The journey mate"By: Syed Nasim Aejaz AshkThey were about two hundred and fifty in number and constantly flying at high speeds towards the destination. The intensity of hunger and thirst had exhausted their body strength to a great extent, but ignoring their surroundings and fatigue they were flying at lightning speed. Though he was also tired, but in view of the fear that his companions might lose the courage, he was showing a little too much self-confidence, hence, he eventually increased his speed gradually, neglecting the intensity of h...

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The Lesson of the Daidai

Submitted to Contest #63

The afternoon came slowly, like a young blossom turning glory red in the dusk. The coffee shop was dark inside and time seemed to run slower, like the heat had taken time in hand and stretched it out. Outside the street was busy and chilled with cold rain, but inside it was gently warm, quiet, and peaceful. Avery finished pouring daidai batter into muffin tins, slid them into the oven, and pushed her short hair back from her face. She stood for a moment behind the counter with her hands on her hips. There were few people inside the Star...

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Sleeping Window

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire— heaving a breath, I closed my eyes and returned inside. I forgot it was fall; I was tired. In truth, I wanted to write. Well, to be more precise, that was my way of saying that I wanted to draw. In a way, it is basically the act of writing down something, not in words, but in images. But, of course, that still is, in all forms of technicality, basically drawing. And so, taking up my sketchbook, sharpened pencil in hand, I set myself at the window seat and opened the window— where the S...

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Human Cycle

Submitted to Contest #62

I sat in the waiting room, mentally preparing myself for my life’s greatest adventure. I had already physically prepared for what will happen today, but no amount of meditation has eased my nerves for the moment ahead. “Julieta Bautista?” I hear my name called and I stand, shakily to my feet. The woman smiles. Her cold violet eyes contrast with her warm inviting smile. “We’re ready for you.” I nod my head trying to return a smile, but failing. She leads me down a long plain corridor. The overhead lamps swinging with the tremors of the gr...

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Thousand Letters to Celestina (An Original Story)

Submitted to Contest #62

It was a fair, sunny day in the year of 1876, there is a woman named Celestina, her beauty is that of a radiant sun. A sun so bright that has captivated me from the moment that I have laid my eyes on her.The beautiful woman, adorned with luxurious colonial-era, Spanish clothing sips a cup of the finest coffee in the country.Suddenly, The bark of the tree from which I am sitting at shatters in half and I now find myself writhing in pain. My butt cheeks swelling from the fall from the Narra tree I was sitting from.Celestina noticed and immedia...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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