Thorsten J. Pattberg

Having studied at Peking, Tokyo, Edinburgh and Harvard University, Dr Thorsten J Pattberg writes about politics and social justice. He is the author of The East-West Dichotomy and Inside Peking University.

Born in West Germany in 1977 during the Wirtschaftswunder, a time of unprecedented economic growth, Pattberg started his early career as an office clerk for the local district court in Hamm and later for the public prosecutor’s office in Münster.

During economic stagnation in the 2000’s, Pattberg immigrated to Scotland and enrolled at Edinburgh University, initially to study Sanskrit and Philosophy. That changed, when an opportunity to study in mainland China arrived. He continued his studies in Shanghai and Beijing, and returned to Edinburgh in 2006 to receive his Master of Arts in China Studies.

After research stints at Tokyo University in 2008 and Harvard University in 2010, Pattberg received his PhD in Comparative Studies and World Literature from Peking University in 2012. Not long after, he relocated to Japan and started his career as an independent writer and cultural critic.

Dr Pattberg’s long list of publications includes books, articles, blogs and commentaries. Topics range from Intellectual property rights in China and the Human rights situation in Hong Kong to Star Wars is Chinese Taoism and How to translate Chinese cultural key terminologies.

In 2019, he published his first German-language social novel, Die Lehre vom Unterschied (The Law of Difference), in which he argues the dark side of German socialism.