Asia (magazine)
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''Asia'' was an American
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
that featured reporting about
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
and its people, including the
Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
,
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
,
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
, and the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. From 1934 to 1946, it was edited by Richard J. Walsh, with extensive contributions from his wife, Pearl S. Buck. Under their influence, the journal published many prominent Asian literary and political figures and American authorities. It was headquartered in
Orange, Connecticut Orange is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 14,280 at the 2020 census. The town is governed by a Board of Selectmen. History The Paugusset and Algonquian people ...
. In 1946, after many years of financial trouble, it was merged into a new journal, ''United Nations World''.


Origins and development

''Asia'' magazine was established by the American Asiatic Association in 1898 as ''Journal of the American Asiatic Association''. An editorial in the ''Journal'' explained: "The ignorance of our people in regard to the countries of the Far East is unquestionably a serious obstacle to the legitimate extension of American influence." In 1917 Willard Straight, who had been involved in promoting American trade and investment in Korea and China since the turn of the century, and his wife, Dorothy Payne Whitney Straight, bought the magazine and renamed it ''Asia'' and continued its publication as a popular journal of commerce and travel. The Straights also were co-founders of ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'' magazine."Records of Asia Magazine" RG 4, pp. 207 208, "Papers of Pearl S. Buck,

When Willard Straight died of influenza in 1918, his widow took over publication of the magazine. She married Leonard K. Elmhirst in 1925. The editors included Louis D. Froelick and John Foord, and associate editors Gertrude Emerson and Marietta Neff. Elsie Weil, who joined the staff about 1920, was the long time managing editor. Frank H. McIntosh painted many of the covers.Ask Art
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Under Richard Walsh and Pearl S. Buck

In January 1934, although ownership remained unchanged, Richard J. Walsh, head of John Day publishers published his first issue as editor. He announced that the magazine would no longer be a tourist handbook, and despite objections from some readers, the magazine was shifted from advertising luxury goods, travel and promotion of American commerce in the Orient to discussion of international affairs and current Asian culture and literature. In the first editorial Walsh promised readers a wide range of topics and views. The magazine's political stance changed as well. Walsh wrote that it would "look upon Communism as objectively as upon art, and bring to religious concepts as open a mind as we bring to economic problems." Walsh soon brought his new wife, Pearl S. Buck, into the editorial process. In the following years, Asia underwent revolution and war. Walsh, as publisher of John Day, and Buck, as America's most influential writer about Asia, attracted and recruited a new range of Asian and American writers, many of whom promoted an anti-colonial agenda, such as support for Indian independence, and anti-racist program. Subscriptions rose as Americans become more worried about the oncoming
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
. Writers included
William Ernest Hocking William Ernest Hocking (August 10, 1873 – June 12, 1966) was an American idealist philosopher at Harvard University. He continued the work of his philosophical teacher Josiah Royce (the founder of American idealism) in revising idealism to int ...
, the Harvard liberal theologian;
Hu Shih Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He part ...
, leader of China's
New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement was a progressivism, progressive sociopolitical movement in China during the 1910s and 1920s. Participants criticized many aspects of traditional Chinese society, in favor of new formulations of Chinese culture inform ...
;
Owen Lattimore Owen Lattimore (July 29, 1900 – May 31, 1989) was an American Orientalist and writer. He was an influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of '' Pac ...
, the emerging authority on Central Asia;
Lin Yutang Lin Yutang (10 October 1895 – 26 March 1976) was a Chinese inventor, linguist, novelist, philosopher, and translator. One scholar commented that Lin's "particular blend of sophistication and casualness found a wide audience, and he became a ma ...
;
Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...
, the Indian independence leader; and reporters such as
Nathaniel Peffer Nathaniel Peffer (; June 30, 1890 in New York City – April 12, 1964) was an American researcher on East Asian issues. Educated at the University of Chicago, Peffer became an East Asian correspondent for the ''New York Tribune'', and lived in Chi ...
;
Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (July 19, 1905 – February 15, 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on communism in China and the Chinese Communist Revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...
,
Nym Wales Helen Foster Snow (September 21, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s under the name Nym Wales on the developing Chinese Civil War, the Korean independence movement and the Second Sino-Japan ...
, and
Theodore H. White Theodore Harold White (, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986) was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the ''Making of the President'' series. White started his career reporting for ...
, who reported from the front line on China before World War II. Buck wrote a regular book review column titled “Asia Book Shelf.” The magazine recruited corresponding editors to gather articles, including
Gertrude Emerson Sen Gertrude Emerson Sen (6 May 1890 – 1982) was an early 20th-century expert on Asia and a founding member of the Society of Woman Geographers. Early life and education Gertrude Emerson was the daughter of Alfred Emerson, Sr., and Alice Edwards ...
in India and H.J. Timperley, an Australian journalist in China. In 1941, Walsh and Buck bought the magazine from the Elmhirsts. They changed the name to ''Asia and the Americas'' in November 1942, and Buck assumed the editorship. She continued her attacks on imperialism, particularly British, and offered strong support for colonial independence movements. With the end of the war in 1945, however, Americans lost interest in Asia and the magazine suffered a financial crisis. Buck resigned as editor in 1947 merged the magazine with ''
Free World The "Free World" is a propaganda term, primarily used during the Cold War from 1945 to 1991, to refer to the Western Bloc and aligned countries. It was originally coined in the 1930s and used in the Second World War. The term refers more bro ...
'' and ''Inter-American'' to form a new journal, ''United Nations World''.


References


Further reading

* * "Chapter Three: The American Asiatic Association and the Imperialist Imaginary of the American Pacific," in , 86-104


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Asia Business magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1898 Magazines disestablished in 1946 Magazines published in Connecticut Monthly magazines published in the United States Tourism magazines