ABSTRACT
To obtain a deeper understanding from the cultural level, I amplify the opera The Peony Pavilion to illustrate the function of sexuality and aggression in the process of individuation and the effects of attachment between parents and children in Chinese settings. Although this story was created 400 years ago, the heroine’s sense of self and her relationship with her parents are more like those of a modern girl from a one-child family, and the obstacles in her way remain in China today, even though the external environment is quite different. She and her pattern of relating to a man chosen by herself has been an ideal for young Chinese people for many generations, and her experience of individuation can be borrowed by young Chinese people today who share similar family issues but under less severe external pressure.
