Part 1 What troubles Chinese children?

Research estimates that nearly 40 million Chinese students suffer from some form of disillusion in their academic endeavors. This has created a host of psychological concerns that one psychiatrist is aiming to treat.

A Renmin University graduate in psychology, Song Shaowei finds in his research that one in five Chinese children experience some sort of psychological issues. Problems like study weariness, parent-child conflicts and Internet addictions are troubling many Chinese families. But Song also sees business opportunities in them.

Song Shaowei opened a small counseling service called “Very Education” in 2003. He specifically targets children troubled by issues such as school weariness, learning difficulties and Internet addictions. Receiving only a couple of hundred clients per year, Song’s company is able to make a yearly turnover of 30 million yuan, or 5 million US dollars.

Part 2 Youth counseling in China

Clinics offering psychological care opened in the United States in 1900, and the United Kingdom opened its first clinics focusing on children in the 1970s. Although many Chinese schools offer psychological counseling today, research in the country is still lagging behind Europe and the U.S..

The 2012 China Household Finance Survey shows that over 1.5 million Chinese families have a disposable income of more than 1 million yuan, or about 160,000 US dollars. That’s the consumer group Song Shaowei’s clinic targets on.

Song uses a variety of methods such as sand table tests and experiential learning to discover what troubles children and help rebuild their characters. But the problem is: What if these methods don’t work?

Part 3 Treating addictions to Internet games

Many Chinese parents find it a huge headache that their children are addicted to Internet games. Many have sent their children to special camps or rehab centers for treatment, but Song Shaowei’s team has turned Internet games a new instruction tool.

In anime psychology treatment, children become game designers. They create characters and stories in games. As their plot develops, these children are expected to rebuild their values and personalities. Song’s research and development team is tasked to design such educational games, and their product has attracted a 100-million-yuan investment from the Internet giant Tencent. But will educational games win the hearts of players rather than their parents?