The History of Psychoanalysis in China

ABSTRACT

This article provides an overview of the development of psychoanalysis in China based on literature and personal observations. We situate this history in the context of the cognate disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy, all of which are shaped by the massive political and social transformations of modern and contemporary China. Our account starts with a preliminary beginning prior to 1949, which fell largely outside the clinical domain. What follows is a brief description of how this nascent development was extinguished under three decades of radical socialism. The main part of the article deals with the post-reform period that began in the late 1970s, as the introduction of Western psychotherapy and psychoanalysis became possible again after the Cultural Revolution. Emphasis is placed on the past 15 years or so, a period known for an explosive growth of professional and popular interests in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and psychology in China’s major cities.

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Notes on contributors

Hsuan-Ying Huang

Hsuan-Ying Huang, M.D., Ph.D., is Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before beginning his teaching career in anthropology, he completed psychiatric training at National Taiwan University Hospital and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre on China in the World, Australian National University. His research explores the “psycho-boom” or the rise of Western psychotherapy in urban China. Recently he has extended his research attention to the development of digital mental health in China.

Douglas Kirsner

Douglas Kirsner, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor at Deakin University where he previously held a Personal Chair in Philosophy and Psychoanalytic Studies. His publications include The Schizoid World of Jean-Paul Sartre and RD Laing (Other Press, 2003) and Unfree Associations: Inside Psychoanalytic Institutes (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), numerous journal articles, book chapters and edited collections. He is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies and Organizational and Social Dynamics, and Editorial Advisor to Psychoanalysis and History.