Review of Psychoanalysis in China.

Abstract

The fruitful ambiguity of Qi allows philosophers to explore realms of being which are inconceivable to people constricted by a Cartesian dichotomy.-Tu Wei-Ming, Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation. (p. 37)Post-Mao China, with its 1.4 billion people and the world's second largest economy, is transforming itself at a dizzying speed. Unprecedented changes in political, economic, and social arenas, such as market privatization, the migration of millions of rural workers to cities, and the rise of the super wealthy and a large, new middle class, to name just a few, are reshaping the Chinese psyche as well. Individuals' identities once tied to family, kinship network, and the collective community, are giving way to individual identity and autonomy (Kleinman et al., 2011). In this new world, it is up to individuals to procure jobs and to create opportunities, rather than wait for a party or state assignment. Expression of individual desires, ranging from spiritual, material, educational, sexual, to affective, all of which have been previously restrained, are encouraged and even celebrated through mass media and the Internet. One upshot of this postsocialist cultivation of subjectivity is "Psycho-boom." Psychology and psychotherapy books, seminars, and even a TV show depicting therapy are popular. Obtaining certificates in psychotherapy and counseling is gaining wide appeal. A part of this Psycho-boom is a strong interest in psychoanalysis (perhaps because psychoanalysis's emphasis on the sanctity of individual subjectivity).This Chinese interest comes at a difficult time for psychoanalysis in the West, where it is facing a deep decline. It has responded to the Chinese interest with enthusiasm, setting up various training programs for Chinese mental health professionals, and providing opportunities for remote psychoanalysis and supervision via Skype with Western analysts. The importance of the new Chinese frontier to the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) was demonstrated when it held its conference celebrating its 100th year in Beijing in 2010. Apropos, several books on psychoanalysis in China and Far East have appeared in print (