James Palmer
Writer
James Palmer is a British writer and editor. He is the author of The Death of Mao: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Birth of the New China (2012) and The Bloody White Baron: The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia (2008). He lives in Beijing.
Written by James Palmer
essay
Making
Chabuduo! Close enough …
Your balcony fell off? Chabuduo. Vaccines are overheated? Chabuduo. How China became the land of disastrous corner-cutting
James Palmer
idea
Subcultures
How can a first-person shooter have a victim complex?
James Palmer
essay
Information and communication
All-seeing, all-knowing
Since imperial times Chinese governments have yearned for a perfect surveillance state. Will big data now deliver it?
James Palmer
essay
Public health
Crippling injustice
Disabled people in modern China are still stigmatised, marginalised and abused. What hope is there for reform?
James Palmer
essay
Sex and sexuality
Kept women
Mistresses are big business in China, where no official is a real man without his own ernai. What’s in it for the girls?
James Palmer
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Medicine
Do some harm
Traditional Chinese medicine is an odd, dangerous mix of sense and nonsense. Can it survive in modern China?
James Palmer
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Demography and migration
The balinghou
Chinese parents bemoan their children’s laziness and greed, but this generation of young people has had enough
James Palmer