Abstract
The increasing acceptance and use of psychotherapy in contemporary China powerfully attests to the “psychologization” of Chinese society. Yet attending therapy is only one aspect of psychologization. Analyzing the practice of therapy through case examples illuminates the broader sociocultural context of China’s “psycho-boom.” This includes insight into what I term an expansive-I notion of personhood. This non-singular notion of personhood is a major challenge for Chinese therapists. Therapists’ attempts to resolve clients’ problems by reorienting them according to psychological ideals highlight the multiple, at times contradictory relationships between psychotherapy, the state and families.
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Notes
This close relationship between teachers and the Center is likely related to the Center’s establishment within an elite teaching university. Many teachers are alumni or have taken some continuing education professionalization course at the university.
Since most and elite elementary schools only accept students according to district after residency has been established (an exception is a danwei based system, such as a university affiliated elementary school where university employees can send their children to the affiliated school), real estate prices in districts with top elementary schools are, unsurprisingly, consistently high.
This logic is further magnified on a national scale as universities famously set lower entrance scores for local students. Thus, for example, a Sichuan student must receive a higher score than a Beijing student on the college entrance exam to enter the same Beijing university. Not surprisingly, cities with elite universities also have some of the highest housing prices. There are limits to parental investment, however, most notably in the form of household registration, or hukou. While a parent may be able to “buy” their child a place in a good elementary, middle, or high school in Beijing, if neither parent and thus child has Beijing hukou, the child must take the gaokao according to their hukou. Beijing hukou is notoriously difficult to obtain as the government tightly controls its availability.
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Chen, W. Enveloping Mothers, Enveloped Sons: Positions in Chinese Family Therapy. Cult Med Psychiatry 42, 821–839 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-018-9588-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-018-9588-5