ABSTRACT
In China, the first Sino-German continuous training programme for psychotherapists began in 1997. Since then, along with the development of Chinese economy and the intense cultural exchange with the Western countries, more and more Chinese colleagues are involved in these kinds of projects. The personal identity of intellectuals in traditional Chinese society is based upon three dimensions, that is, the social identification of a family, the political identification of a state and the cultural identification of Confucianism. The social identity of Chinese intellectuals was closely related to their "working unit". Since the level of fee for psychotherapy that is covered by the Chinese medical insurance is rather low, and universities offer free therapy for their students, these conditions inevitably devalue the professional status of psychoanalytical therapists. Psychoanalytic work in transcultural context involves dialectic with otherness and strangeness that can be quite challenging.
