Understanding Chinese Subjectivity: Growth Rings, Psychoanalytic Development, and Clinical Implications

Date: 30/05/2026 Time: 14:00 -16:00 BST Venue: In-person only at the bpf House

This presentation offers an introduction to the Chinese psychoanalytic context and explores the experiences of being a Chinese person in Western psychoanalytic training.
The presentation will:

1. Introduce the "Growth Rings" framework for understanding Chinese subjectivity—six layers of enigmatic messages (tradition, colonial modernity, revolutionary trauma, family, capitalism, and the state) that shape the psychic foundation of Chinese individuals
2. Provide a brief overview of psychoanalytic development in China and contrast it with the organized communities in the US
3. Share personal experiences of the challenges and cultural negotiations involved in Western psychoanalytic training
4. Discuss clinical implications for cultural awareness when working with Chinese or other non-Western patients
The goal is to offer both theoretical understanding and practical insights for clinicians working with Chinese patients or interested in cross-cultural psychoanalytic work.

Event Details

Start Date: Sat, 30 May 14:00:00
End Date: Sat, 30 May 16:00:00
Location: The British Psychotherapy Foundation

Description

This is a members-only event. You must log in to your bpf account for the registration button to appear on this page.

Structure (45 minutes)

Introduction: Positionality (5 minutes)

Who I am: A Chinese person in Western psychoanalytic training
Why this perspective matters

Growth Rings: The Foundation of Chinese Subjectivity (12–15 minutes)

The six layers of enigmatic messages that constitute Chinese subjectivity
Why this framework is essential for understanding psychoanalytic development in China

Chinese Psychoanalysis: History and Current Context (10–12 minutes)

Brief historical overview
Current state: Contrasts between China, the US, and the UK
Why these differences exist (grounded in the Growth Rings framework)

Experiences in Western Training (10–12 minutes)

Cultural challenges and negotiations in clinical work
When Western psychoanalytic assumptions don't translate
Examples from personal experience

Clinical Implications: Toward Cultural Awareness (5–8 minutes)

What does culturally sensitive therapy require?
Questions for reflection and discussion

Closing: Open Questions (2–3 minutes)

About the speaker

Xiaomeng Qiao, M.A., is a Chinese psychoanalyst-in-training and doctoral researcher based in the United Kingdom, where he trains at the Tavistock. His doctoral research examines Chinese subjectivity through a psychoanalytic lens, focusing on how layers of historical, political, and familial transmission shape the Chinese psyche — a framework he calls "Growth Rings." He has published in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, TAP, and ROOM, on topics including mother archetypes in Chinese cultural narratives, narcissistic vulnerability and toxic masculinity in Chinese contexts, and the social unconscious in Chinese collective life. Alongside his clinical and academic work, he supervises Chinese therapists in cross-cultural practice and develops creative projects that bring psychoanalytic thought into dialogue with contemporary cultural life.

Xiaomeng (Jo) Qiao, MA (he/they)

Psychoanalytic Candidate, Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis
Doctoral Student, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis (Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Society)
hekukaixin.com
Chinese Psychoanalytic Scene
Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This presentation offers an introduction to Chinese subjectivity through a psychoanalytic lens, drawing on the presenter's experience as a Chinese clinician in Western psychoanalytic training.

Central to the presentation is the "Growth Rings" framework — a model of six overlapping layers of enigmatic messages that shape the psychic foundation of Chinese individuals: traditional Confucian culture, colonial modernity, revolutionary trauma, family, capitalism, and the state. Like the rings of a tree, these layers do not replace one another but accumulate, creating a particular configuration of desire, recognition, and refusal that Western frameworks do not always capture.

Against this backdrop, the presentation traces the development of psychoanalysis in China — its distinctive history, its current tensions, and how it differs from the organized psychoanalytic communities of the UK and US. The presenter will share personal experiences of navigating these differences in clinical training and practice: what it means to bring a Chinese psyche into a Western clinical setting, and where translation fails.

The session closes with clinical implications for practitioners working with Chinese or other non-Western patients — not as a checklist, but as an invitation to reflect on the cultural assumptions embedded in psychoanalytic technique itself.

(45-minute presentation, followed by group discussion and Q&A)

Reading List

Qiao, X. (2024). Deprivation and disruption: The development of narcissistic vulnerability and toxic masculinity in some Chinese contexts. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2024.2398679
Qiao, X. (2025). The Relational Unconscious and the Social Unconscious in a Contemporary Chinese Case Study. Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China, 8(1–2).
Qiao, X. (forthcoming). [Ferenczi "Confusion of Tongues" + Chinese structure — title TBD].
(Under review; to share as manuscript when available.)

Notes

Audience: BPF clinicians (beginners to Chinese psychoanalytic context)
Focus: Entry-level introduction + clinical implications
Tone: Accessible, not too radical
Goal: Meet clinicians, share perspectives, facilitate discussion

*If you are a psychotherapist or counsellor residing in an active conflict zone, you are eligible to attend this event free of charge (regardless of whether you are a bpf member or not). Please email events@bpf-psychotherapy to enquire about a ticket.