Does money mean happiness for people in China, whose income has increased tenfold in the past two decades? The answer seems to be no, say psychologists, who find that Chinese individuals have never been so bothered by psychological crisis.
Recent media reports have shown a college student who becoming a murderer after a minor confrontation with peers, migrant workers committing suicide after failing to obtain overdue wages, members of the social elite falling into hypochondria and government officials ruining their careers to take bribes.
Behind these incidents is the unhealthy mentality of Chinese individuals who are failing to deal with the abrupt changes in this transitional period, said Wang Dengfeng, a psychology professor with prestigious Beijing University.
China has been making a switch from a planned economy to a market economy since the early 1980s, during which time the economy has boomed and social strata have been reclassified, leaving greater opportunity for advancement.
The market economy also created social mania for personal wealth and drove many people into business. "Overnight, people felt they have somewhat become the commercial goods on the shelves, willing to get market recognition and hopefully become the top-brand Coca Cola one day," Wang said.
Twenty years have been long enough to witness some successful stories. Leading a pressured life, some have struggled for a while before finally excelling, Wang said. "But then do they feel happy? No, they find they have become nothing but businessmen. The lost identity imposed further mental affliction on them."
For the Chinese who did not go into business, their income might also increased tenfold, or even hundredfold due to the economic boom. But psychological studies show their desires rose tremendously in this process, and they couldn't keep up with their salaries. "Instead of feeling contented, they get frustrated," acknowledged Wang.
Uncertainty is another key element of the transitional era, bothering the whole nation. When people don't have a good expectation of the future, they tend to focus on short-term interests and become impulsive, said Hou Yubo, also a psychologist with the Beijing University.
Combining social uncertainty and the worship for personal fortune, no wonder some Chinese behave abnormally in the transitional period, Hou added.
Bribery-taking among officials has become a prominent social phenomenon since the market economy was put in place. From the perspective of psychology, it is considered an impulsive act due to social uncertainty and pursuit of money, said Hou. "Corruption arises as these officials do not feel a secured quality life," he said.
Targeted at this, Shi Kan, a psychologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is working on a digital model to analyze the human mentality, focusing on variations such as compulsion and social responsibility. "It is expected to be used in selecting high-ranking government officials soon."
Chinese farmers' income increased a lot in the past two decades, but compared with other social classifications, they feel that the transitional period has been unfair to them. Businessmen from cities swarmed into the countryside to make great fortunes by taking up arable land or tapping mineral resources. However, farmers are still faced with hard days in crop planting, and for those seeking jobs in cities, they often can't obtain overdue wages.
"The accumulated resentment and dissatisfaction of farmers could not be released in time, causing the abnormal conduct," noted Hou. Psychologists are obliged to provide psychological assistance programs to help people through inner conflicts.
Wang Dengfeng held that the abrupt social changes have outpaced the country's education, causing severe psychological crises for youths.
"Chinese education has become about making children and young people recite things, ignoring behavior shaping and the build-up of healthy mental state," said Wang. Thus Ma Jiajue, a student from Yunnan University, who failed to deal with inner conflicts, chose to kill four of his peers.
Professor Uwe Gielen from the United States has long studied cross-culture psychology. He suggested a program geared to young mothers on how to bring up children. "Comprared with other groups, children's behavior is easier to modify," he said. "More importantly, they are the future of the country."
Zhang Kan, president of the Chinese Psychological Society, is so worried about the psychological problems on affluent Chinese. "We psychologists are committed to joining hands with the sociologists and public policy researchers to provide possible solutions for the public," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2004)
