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Jeff Yang

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Jeff Yang
楊致和
Born1967 or 1968 (age 56–57)
EducationHarvard University (BA)
OccupationWriter
Spouse
Heather Ying
(m. 2002; div. 2013)
[1]
Children2, including Hudson Yang
Jeff Yang
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinYáng Zhìhé

Jeff Yang (Chinese: 楊致和; born 1967 or 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]

Early life and education

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Yang was born to a Taiwanese American family. He graduated from Harvard University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.[5]

Career

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Yang 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

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Yang was married to Heather Ying, a physician assistant in cardiothoracic surgery.[1] They married in 2002 and 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

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  • 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

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References

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  1. ^ 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. Mr. Yang, also 34
  2. ^ "Tao Jones News — Speakeasy — WSJ".
  3. ^ Kaur, Harmeet (March 1, 2022). "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 June 15, 2022.
  4. ^ "Jeff Yang's new book is a 'cheer out loud' for the films that made Asian America". KCCU | Your Public Radio Station. November 6, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  5. ^ President and Fellows of Harvard College, ed. (2014). Harvard & Radcliffe Class of 1989 25th Anniversary Report. North Andover, MA: Flagship Press. pp. 996–997.
  6. ^ "Jeff Yang". www.secretidentities.org. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  7. ^ "Strategist Bio". iconoculture.cebglobal.com. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  8. ^ "Jeff Yang – Newspaper Columnist, Cultural Critic, and Proud Dad". www.taiwaneseamerican.org. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  9. ^ Hua, Vanessa (March 6, 2004). "Bay Area station creating a 'Stir' / Asian-language Channel 26 trying first show in English". SFGate. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  10. ^ "ABC Renews 'Last Man Standing,' Orders Two More Comedies". The Hollywood Reporter. May 10, 2014.
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