Jeff Yang (Chinese: 楊致和; born c. 1967/1968)[1] is an American writer, journalist, businessman, and business/media consultant who writes the Tao Jones column for The Wall Street Journal.[2] Previously, he was the "Asian Pop" columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle. He is an expert on Asian American pop culture and is the co-author of RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now (2022) with Philip Wang and Phil Yu[3] and The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America (2023).[4]
Jeff Yang | |
|---|---|
| 楊致和 | |
 Jeff Yang at Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, November 12, 2023 | |
| Born | 1967 or 1968 (age 56–57) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (BA) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Spouse |
Heather Ying
(m. 2002; div. 2013) |
| Children | 2, including Hudson Yang |
| Jeff Yang | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 楊致和 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 杨致和 | ||||||
| |||||||
Early life and education
editYang was born to a Taiwanese-American family. He graduated from Harvard University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.[5]
Career
editYang has written a number of books related to Asian popular culture, including Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to the Cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (with Jackie Chan), and Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence in American Culture, from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism.
In the comics genre, he has written Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology and co-wrote the second graphic novel in the Secret Identities series, Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. He has also written for the Village Voice, VIBE, Spin, and Condé Nast Portfolio.[6]
Yang is also a business/media consultant on marketing to Asian American consumers for Iconoculture, Inc.[7] Before joining Iconoculture, Yang was CEO of Factor, Inc., another marketing consultancy targeting Asian Americans.
Starting in 1989, Yang was the creator and publisher of A Magazine, then the largest circulating English-language Asian American magazine in the United States before it closed its doors in 2002. The magazine grew out of an undergraduate publication that he had edited while a student at Harvard University. Yang was a producer for the first nationally distributed Asian American television show, Stir.[8][9]
He is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and has served on the advisory boards of the Asian American Justice Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and the China Institute in America.
Personal life
editYang was married to Heather Ying, a physician assistant in cardiothoracic surgery.[1] They divorced in 2013. They have two sons, Hudson and Skyler. Their elder son, Hudson Yang, is a star of the 2015 ABC television series Fresh Off the Boat, based on Eddie Huang's memoir, Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir.[10]
Works
editThis section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2024) |
- Yang, Jeff; Gan, Dina; Hong, Terry (1997). Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism. Boston: Mariner Books; Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-76341-X. OCLC 37022942.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Brady, Lois (August 25, 2002). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Heather Ying and Jeff Yang". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ "Tao Jones News — Speakeasy — WSJ".
- ^ Kaur, Harmeet (2022-03-01). "From 'The Joy Luck Club' to 'Crazy Rich Asians,' a new book hopes to 'fill in the blanks' of Asian American pop culture". CNN. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
- ^ "Jeff Yang's new book is a 'cheer out loud' for the films that made Asian America". KCCU | Your Public Radio Station. 2023-11-06. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
- ^ President and Fellows of Harvard College, ed. (2014). Harvard & Radcliffe Class of 1989 25th Anniversary Report. North Andover, MA: Flagship Press. pp. 996–997.
- ^ "Jeff Yang". www.secretidentities.org. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
- ^ "Strategist Bio". iconoculture.cebglobal.com. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
- ^ "Jeff Yang – Newspaper Columnist, Cultural Critic, and Proud Dad". www.taiwaneseamerican.org. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
- ^ Hua, Vanessa (6 March 2004). "Bay Area station creating a 'Stir' / Asian-language Channel 26 trying first show in English". SFGate. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ "ABC Renews 'Last Man Standing,' Orders Two More Comedies". The Hollywood Reporter. May 10, 2014.
External links
edit- Asian American Justice Center bio
- Asian Pop column archive, San Francisco Chronicle
- INSTANT YANG, Jeff Yang's mailing list
- Random House co-author bio for I am Jackie Chan
- Wedding vows: Heather Ying & Jeff Yang, The New York Times, Aug. 25, 2002
- Secret Identities Official Web site