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

A man sitting on a bed in a damaged room, looking outside where debris lies on the floor and a red building is visible through a broken window

essayMaking

Chabuduo! Close enough …

Your balcony fell off? Chabuduo. Vaccines are overheated? Chabuduo. How China became the land of disastrous corner-cutting

James Palmer

Video game rendering of soldiers running through a war-torn city with tanks, smoke, and a helicopter in the background.

ideaSubcultures

How can a first-person shooter have a victim complex?

James Palmer

A white goose with a red and green balloon around its neck, standing beside a person wearing dark trousers on a paved path.

essayInformation 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

A distressed Chinese person holding a chained and padlocked ankle, in an indoor setting with furniture in the background.

essayPublic health

Crippling injustice

Disabled people in modern China are still stigmatised, marginalised and abused. What hope is there for reform?

James Palmer

A lively Asian street at night with neon signs. Two women are in the foreground; one is smiling while the other looks down.

essaySex 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

A smiling woman receiving acupuncture in her face with another person in a white coat assisting, medical charts in the background.

essayMedicine

Do some harm

Traditional Chinese medicine is an odd, dangerous mix of sense and nonsense. Can it survive in modern China?

James Palmer

A busy city street in Asia with pedestrians, signs, buildings and two young women walking in the foreground holding hands.

essayDemography and migration

The balinghou

Chinese parents bemoan their children’s laziness and greed, but this generation of young people has had enough

James Palmer