Prologue: Psychoanalysis in China

I was very excited to come to this project, a ground-breaking issue of Psychoanalytic Inquiry that focuses exclusively on the voices of mainland Chinese therapists/analysts and their patients. Although I am a native of Taiwan, my parents are originally from mainland China and are descendants from the Xibo ethnic minority group as well as from the Han people. I also lived and worked in Japan for several years and speak Japanese fluently. I met my co-editor, Hawlan Ng, when we worked together for a U.S.-based multinational consulting firm. Although I am Chinese (and my patients are primarily in mainland China), I am well-versed in navigating different cultures and subcultures. I was certified as a Jungian analyst by the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP).

Soon it will be the 100-year anniversary of Psychology recognized as an official academic discipline in China since the Academia Sinica Institute of Psychology was established in 1928. Psychology, translated into Xin Li in Chinese, which means Heart (Mind) Science, has grown from a Western concept into one of the most discussed topics in current Chinese people’s daily lives. In the past twenty years, many Western psychologists and analysts have come to China to teach psychology, and the practices of psychological counseling, psychoanalysis and analytical psychology have begun to take firm root in Chinese society. Being in analysis is increasingly seen as an important step toward becoming a psychologist and toward individuation. Not only have many Chinese people undergone analysis, but there are now many Chinese psychologists trained and currently working as professional analysts. Psychoanalysis has its origins in the West but had to evolve in new ways to accommodate a Chinese psyche embedded in Chinese culture, which itself has changed a great deal in recent years.

We are in the second century of the information age, everywhere confronted by information’s shad