Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index plunged 4.23 percent while Shanghai lost 2.33 percent.
Tokyo closed down 1.55 percent, Sydney slumped 2.07 percent while Seoul lost 1.41 percent. Taipei shares fell 1.36 percent.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore share prices slumped 1.95% while Manila was down 1.36 percent.
The slump came as Beijing said third-quarter gross domestic product growth slowed to 9.1 percent, and factory output growth fell slightly in the first nine months of the year.
"If the (third quarter) GDP growth reading was 9.2 percent or 9.3 percent, the market may think it's acceptable, but 9.1 percent looks worrisome," said Qian Qimin, an analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Securities.
The figures would likely stoke concerns that a slowdown in orders from the US and Europe was denting the world's second-biggest economy, as Beijing also works to fight stubbornly high inflation.
The broad drop across the major regional stock markets reversed an Asian rally on Monday largely driven by a weekend meeting where Europe vowed to its G20 partners to take swift and decisive action on tackling its debt crisis.
European and US markets lost ground on Monday amid warnings from Germany against putting too much hope that an EU summit this weekend will produce a comprehensive solution to Europe's fiscal woes.
Berlin sought to dampen expectations for Sunday's European Union summit in Brussels, with government spokesman Stefan Seibert warning that "dreams that everything will be resolved and dealt with by next Monday cannot be fulfilled".
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that decisions would be part of "important measures to be taken over the long term, and this long term is likely to last into next year".
The tone was a marked change from the weekend when, speaking after a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Paris, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said the eurozone answers at the summit would be "decisive".
Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said the latest news from Europe was "another indication of the political obstacles to forging a workable solution for the eurozone".
"Investors have been reminded of the need for caution until details of any proposal are formally released and agreed on," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
The market was also spooked by ratings agency Moody's warning to France that it may place a negative outlook on its cherished Aaa credit rating in the coming months, saying the government's financial strength "has weakened".
The annual credit report is a shot across the bow for the second-largest economy in the eurozone, which currently enjoys the top credit rating from Moody's and rival ratings agencies.
The warning comes just days after Standard and Poor's downgraded Spain's credit rating, citing sky-high private debt, weak economic growth and towering unemployment.
- AFP/ir
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