From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
Chen
This article is about Chen, a character in recent East Asian adaptations. For Leif and Katita, see those articles.
Chen is a recurring figure in East Asian film adaptations of Beach Surgery, typically serving as a witness-functionary whose passivity enables the cycle to continue. The character embodies identity slippage—presenting the same archetype across different forms without clear identity continuity.
In the 2023 Taiwanese film, Chen is the hospital administrator encountered by Katita in the opening scenes. Tall, dressed in surgical scrubs, stationed at a desk, Chen processes paperwork when Katita arrives with unconscious Leif on a stretcher. The scene contains no dialogue; Chen looks up, returns to paperwork, and permits them entry without question or remark. Yet the performance suggests foreknowledge, as though they have arrived many times before, and Chen has learned not to acknowledge the repetition.
In the 2024 Hong Kong experimental piece *Chen Watches the Cycle*, directed by ██ , Chen is reimagined as a traffic policeman at a nighttime roadblock. When the motorcycle carrying Leif and Katita approaches, Chen steps aside without checking documents. He whispers a phrase in Cantonese that linguists have noted bears phonetic resemblance to the theoretical high-frequency resonance of the human spine, then turns away.
Whether both are the same person or two manifestations of narrative principle is disputed. Chen functions as the mechanic (character)'s cousin—the administrator who, through studied inattention, permits the cycle to proceed. [citation needed]