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Marriage and Family in Modern China is a profound and comprehensive book, covering almost every critical issue in couple and family psychotherapies based in China. The author, Dr David E. Scharff, who is one of the recipients of the Sigourney Award in 2021, wrote the book based on his deep understanding of the dynamics within marriages and families and his long-term work in the clinical practice with his Chinese colleagues and clients in China.
As his statement at the beginning of the book says, his work focuses on applying psychoanalytic theories and techniques to Chinese couples and families and the interaction and impact between culture/society and families/ individuals. China has been in a phenomenal and drastic transition in the past forty years, and conflicts between traditions and rebellion within Chinese families are very obvious. As the studies of Jeffreys and Yu (2015) and Wang (2020) show, intimate relationships of young Chinese people and contemporary Chinese families are highly shaped by the collision of traditional residue after revolutions in the last century and the Cultural Revolution, Westernisation, and rapid economic development since the Reforms and opening-up, and political intervention, such as the one-child policy. Dr Scharff's work covers the changing values of modern China, trauma, and resilience of Chinese families, strengths and vulnerabilities of marriages in China, sexual problems, affairs and divorces, difficulties of adolescence and sibling rivalry. His book is based on his understanding of the complexity of the Chinese situation and the impacts of the three factors I just mentioned. He offers fresh and accurate perspectives on these Chinese issues as an outsider, and shows his deep insight into humanity by sophisticated application of theories and techniques of psychoanalysis and couple/family therapy. More importantly, he is open-minded, emphasising that such studies and practices are valuable and beneficial for Chinese practitioners