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Psychoanalytic ideas have been gradually and enthusiastically received in China since the late 1980s when German analysts first offered training programmes there. After earlier attempts to introduce Freudian theories in the 1910s and later in the 1930s at the Peking Union Medical College, all forms of psychotherapy were banned from 1949 onwards and, during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, psychology as a whole became a target. But since the economic and political developments in China that began to take hold in the 1980s, and especially in the last 15 years, there has been a palpable explosion of interest in Freud and psychoanalysis; Freud's face is well enough recognized to feature in television adverts, his books are sold in major bookstores, and in 2011 the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) held its first Asia conference in Beijing.
Nevertheless, only 30 years ago China was still a closed nation to the West, the population largely identically dressed in Mao suits, and most city dwellers living in low-level hutongs (now mostly demolished) built around an inner courtyard, which allowed for little private space. The often deeply-resented one-child policy, with its profound social and cultural impact, was becoming well established (it was rescinded in ). There was no word even for the notion of privacy; individuals were part of groups and collectives at home and at work.
Economic, political and social developments have brought about change at an electrifying rate, and the national psyche is having to adapt fast. There is huge social upheaval and a considerable impact on traditional family systems. One of the questions facing those working in China today is this: how much do the cultural and philosophical traditions of China and events in the 20th