Cultural Factors and Projective Identification in Understanding a Chinese Couple

The assessment and treatment of couple relationships in China requires an understanding both of each couple's dynamic situation, and of their relationship to conscious and unconscious attitudes and changes in Chinese culture. The description of a Chinese couple illustrates the use of Fairbairn's concepts of psychic organization and of projective identification in understanding their individual and shared couple organization. We also locate the couple's difficulties with reference to the changing attitudes in modern Chinese culture.