First published in 1928 under the pseudonym John Ravenswood, the collection contains poems whose theme is the Far East, a part of the globe Slauerhoff knew from his career as a sailor.

The first section opens with an editorial comment, in which "J. Slauerhoff" explains that he is publishing these verses on behalf of the recently deceased "John Ravenswood", a Dutchman of Scottish descent, who had withdrawn from Western life to Jeju Island (then called "Quelpart" by Europeans) where he married a local woman after deserting the whaling ship on which he sailed.

Macau occupies an important place in Slauerhoff's work; it is the setting of his 1931 novel Het verboden rijk, in which Camões was one of the two protagonists.

Oost-Azië's Macao section is dedicated to Constâncio José da Silva, an important Macanese newspaper editor.

[1] Nico Donkersloot, in a comparison between Oost-Azië and Eldorado, which Slauerhoff published under his own name in the same year, called the former less grand than the latter, but with a more exciting "plasticity" in its poetry.