Anxious China

by Li Zhang

The breathless pace of China’s economic reform has brought about deep ruptures in socioeconomic structures and people’s inner landscape. Faced with increasing market-driven competition and profound social changes, more and more middle-class urbanites are turning to Western-style psychological counseling to grapple with their mental distress. This book offers an in-depth ethnographic account of how an unfolding “inner revolution” is reconfiguring selfhood, psyche, family dynamics, sociality, and the mode of governing in post-socialist times. Li Zhang shows that anxiety—broadly construed in both medical and social terms—has become a powerful indicator for the general pulse of contemporary Chinese society. It is in this particular context that Zhang traces how a new psychotherapeutic culture takes root, thrives, and transforms itself across a wide range of personal, social, and political domains.

Genres: China, Anthropology, Psychology

223 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2020

Reviews

[christina ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

» QUICK OVERVIEW «
Stars: ★★★☆☆
*Plot: ★★★☆☆
Readability: ★★★★☆
*Characters: ★★★☆☆
Writing: ★★★☆☆
Recommend: ✗


» PLOT «
Following socialist times, this book explores the rise and spread of western psychological learnings and knowledge in China.

*This is a nonfiction work, so no specific rating, just the average 3.

I love learning more about psychology and such, but I don't think I absorbed much of the information from this book.

» READABILITY «
I used a TTS program, so basically an audiobook. It made the book pretty easy to read and get through.

» CHARACTERS «
*This is a nonfiction work, so no specific rating, just the average 3.

» WRITING «
The writing is good, and it conveyed the information very well.

» OVERALL «
This book was really informative, but I doubt much of the information in the book will be remembered by me. Also, I did read this for school, and Dr. Zhang was my professor. :)

[joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5, rounded up.

very interesting topics, however it did send me to sleep each time i read it.

[Tami Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dahlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and informative. Wish the narratives were more interacted with