CHINA and the first international conference of expressive therapies and psychodrama

[bulmonte21]

*CHINA** and the first international conference of expressive therapies 
and psychodrama*

Coming from another culture and its different background one always 
feels the temptation to generalize the experience under the assumptions 
of ones own culture. Even so we take the risk and try to give a personal 
report on the first international conference of expressive therapies and 
psychodrama in China held at the beginning of august 2007.

First and after all we like to say: Natacha and me, representing a blend of Spanish and Swiss/ German 
culture, were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and the interest young students expressed during the whole 
conference to the contributions of the foreign and Chinese lecturers, trainers and teachers present. In 
comparison with many other countries the experiences we had with Chinese students were after all 
encouraging and rewarding by their natural curiosity to explore and their readiness to learn which was new 
and uncommon to them. Thanks to the consistent efforts of our hosts and thanks after all to Shu Gong, the 
miraculous bridge builder in this very moment between Chinese professionals and the global psychodrama 
community, this conference reached out to be attended by more than 350 students and experts from different 
places in China. The host for all the dinners was Dr. James Tao, professor, Suzhou University, being the 
Secretary-General of the conference.  His Chinese name is Tao Xinua. The keynote speakers were GongShu(US), 
Fan Fumin(China) Yamanaka Yasuhiro (Japan), Marcia Karp(UK) and Jorge Burmeister(Spain and Switzerland). 
Kate Hudgins as another key figure of approximating American and Chinese culture was invited as well as many 
other professionals from different places of the earth (like Merle Goldberg, Ed Schreiber, Jacob Gershoni, Yaacov 
Naor and colleagues from Australia, Finland) but after all from Japan and Taiwan.

Although we were in the beginning frightened by the possible cultural 
clash and the possible political uneasiness considering Chinese reality 
from outside it was interesting enough to see in nearly all social 
contacts the living example of the legendary principle of old martial 
arts working even today: avoid direct confrontation but use the energy 
of others to defend yourself (e.g. your own professional pride). The 
very subtle way to communicate disagreement or difficult emotions 
contrasted so much with our own culture while it was by no way less 
effective. We offered a workshop on peace building processes which was 
regarded at a first glance by some of our hosts as possibly co-sponsored 
by the government because of the actual overall policy of harmony in a 
society of transition and of a considerable amount of social 
contradictions. Of course it was not but we were impressed as well how 
the participants of the workshop engaged themselves in a wise way taking 
into account the possible degree of misbelieve and mistrust among them. 
One of the exercises many of the participants actually loved most was a 
flamenco warming-up during the key note speech on the first day stating 
the right to have ones own place in the here and now with energy and 
self-esteem.

Summarizing we would like to say that to work in China for us was really 
enjoyable and enriching while we only were able to catch a small glimpse 
of the colourful, sometimes enigmatic and deep but also in a few moments 
traumatic history and culture of our host’s homeland. To offer 
psychotherapeutic training seems to be especially indicated to develop 
and search cross fertilization between different cultures but also 
different psychotherapeutic methods taking into consideration the very 
open mindedness of Chinese professionals and students and its heartfelt 
way to make you feel welcome.

So thank you so much Shu Gong and all the others which contributed to 
this experience.

Natacha and Jorge