M.A. Aldrich has lived in Greater China for more than 18 years. He is a partner in the Beijing office of a London-based international law firm. His book The Search for a Vanishing Beijing: A Guide to China's Capital Through the Ages was published by Hong Kong University Press in 2006. He is also a contributor to Beijing: Portrait of a City, published by Odyssey Publications in 2008.
Lukas Nikol is a professional photographer and graphic designer living in Munich. He is a frequent traveler to the Far East. In 2006, he published, with Christian Kracht and Eva Munz, Die Totale Erinnerung, which is the first unauthorized photographic study of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. An English version, entitled The Ministry of Truth: Kim Jong Il's North Korea, was released in November 2007.