Teaching of psychology to university students in China

Abstract

Psychology was first introduced into China from the Western world in the beginning of the 20th century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, psychology was a subdiscipline under education; only after 1960 did psychology became an independent discipline. With the onset of the “Cultural Revolution” (1966–1976), when all universities were closed, psychology was severely attacked by the leftist group and was criticized as a pseudoscience. In the early 1980s, Chinese psychology was again accepted as an academic discipline. Departments of psychology were established in several universities. Since then, Chinese psychology has begun a new stage of rapid development. Although there is no uniform program in the teaching of psychology across Chinese universities, some progress in psychology education has been achieved. Along with the transition of the social‐economic system in China, the role of psychology has become more visible. It is now one of the most favoured scientific disciplines in China. In recent years many new departments of psychology have been established, and the number of students majoring in psychology has increased greatly. In order to improve the teaching of psychology, some unified textbooks have been published under the guidance of the Ministry of Education. With the help of the Chinese Psychological Society, some national conferences on the exchanging of teaching experience have been organized.