The United States Information Service magazine World Today: American Cold War Politics and the Cultural Nationalism of Overseas Chinese

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the United States Information Service (USIS)-sponsored Chinese-language magazine World Today (15 March 1952–December 1980) from its establishment to its editorial principle of being written by and for Chinese with a localized editorial mechanism. This article argues that the itinerary of World Today and its contents indicate the localization of American Cold War values and culture in Hong Kong by interweaving them with the cultivation of sentiment for Chinese cultural nationalism, and the transnationality of this sentiment by both targeting and engaging overseas Chinese around the world. This article also reflects on the difficulty that the USIS propaganda strategy had simultaneously accommodating the cultivation of Chinese nationalist sentiment, the promotion of American racial integration, and the transnationality of their target Chinese audiences.