End of an era or a moment of reshuffling: fragmentation of entry-level training in China’s psycho-boom

Abstract

This article examines the fragmentation of entry-level training in China’s psycho-boom since the state terminated its certification for psychological counsellors in 2017. Initially, the policy change was perceived as the end of an era marked by rapid yet disorderly development. The stringent state regulation that many people anticipated, however, did not occur. The certification’s ending turned out to be a moment of reshuffling that gave existing key players – including the Registry System under the Chinese Psychological Society, other quasi-official organizations and their partners in the training industry, and digital start-up companies – a new chance to vie for growth and dominance in the space it left behind. The heat of the psycho-boom continues, as do the chaos and struggles within it.