This article was downloaded by: [University of Nebraska, Lincoln]On: 18 October 2014, At: 11:13Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

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Professional Ethical Issues and theDevelopment of Professional EthicalStandards in Counseling and ClinicalPsychology in ChinaMingyi Qian a , Jun Gao b , Ping Yao b & Marcus Arnold Rodriguez ba Peking University and Huazhong Normal Universityb Peking UniversityPublished online: 22 Jul 2009.

To cite this article: Mingyi Qian , Jun Gao , Ping Yao & Marcus Arnold Rodriguez (2009) ProfessionalEthical Issues and the Development of Professional Ethical Standards in Counseling and ClinicalPsychology in China, Ethics & Behavior, 19:4, 290-309, DOI: 10.1080/10508420903035273

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M. QIAN ET AL.PROFESSIONAL ETHICAL ISSUES

Professional Ethical Issues and the Developmentof Professional Ethical Standards in Counseling

and Clinical Psychology in China

Mingyi QianPeking University and Huazhong Normal University

Jun Gao, Ping Yao, and Marcus Arnold RodriguezPeking University

This article aims to summarize the current ethical issues in the field of clinical and counseling psy-chology and the process of developing professional ethical standards in China. First, through a reviewof the history of counseling and psychotherapy in China, general background information is provided.Important ethical issues are then discussed based on the results from several empirical studies. Finally,the process of developing the new edition of the Chinese Psychological Society Code of Ethics forClinical and Counseling Psychology, the main contents as well as the considerations taken into ac-count in the development of this code are presented.

Keywords: ethical standards, ethical issues, clinical and counseling psychology, China

Ethics are a set of principles concerning appropriate conduct for a group or individual (Corey,Corey, & Callanan, 1998). The establishment of ethical standards in the field of psychology servesto protect the interests of people who receive psychological service as well as the professionalswho provide these services. The establishment of ethical standards also aims to ensure the healthydevelopment of the profession.

In the last 30 years, China’s economy has developed quickly and Chinese society has under-gone rapid changes in all aspects of life. Meanwhile, the need for counseling and psychotherapyservices, as well as the number of people who provide these services, have expanded. However,the professionalization of counseling and psychotherapy in China is still in a preliminary stage ofdevelopment, this is clearly reflected in the domain of professional ethics. Recently, several effortshave been made by professional organizations to foster the process of professionalization and todevelop professional ethical standards as well as a registration system for individual practitionersand professional organizations.

Before addressing the main topics of this article, it is necessary to clarify the relationships be-tween psychotherapy, counseling, and psychology in China. The professionalization of counsel-

ETHICS & BEHAVIOR, 19(4), 290–309Copyright © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1050-8422 print / 1532-7019 onlineDOI: 10.1080/10508420903035273

Correspondence should be addressed to Mingyi Qian, Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871,P. R. China. E-mail: qmy@pku.edu.cn

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ing and psychotherapy in China faces a complex situation similar to that of many other countries;the key issue is whether counseling and psychotherapy will develop into independent professionsor whether they will be treated as a specialty under an already established profession, such as med-icine or psychology (Pritz, 2002). Take European countries as an example: Clinical psychologyand psychotherapy are thought to undergo a differentiation-integration process in the 21st century(Kryspin-Exner & Pal-Handl, 2003), some countries try to treat counseling and psychotherapy asa specialty under clinical psychology or medicine, such as Holland (Hutschemaekers & Ooster-huis, 2004), while other countries try to separate these fields by legalizing psychotherapy as an in-dependent profession, such as Austria (Pritz, 2002).

As in many other countries, the Chinese government and professional organizations are nowtwo major forces promoting the professionalization of counseling and psychotherapy; however,these two forces take rather different stances on the issue. It was only in the early 1990s that someprofessional organizations were founded and began to play a role in facilitating the developmentof counseling and psychotherapy in China, and it was not until 2002 that the Chinese governmentbegan to regulate the field. By holding two different national examinations and evaluation systemsand by issuing separate certificates, the Chinese government seems to be trying to establish coun-seling and psychotherapy as two distinct professions. Only medical doctors are allowed to applyfor the national exam for psychotherapist; psychotherapy is thus regarded by the government as asubspecialty under the field of medicine. The certification exam for counselors, on the other hand,is offered to individuals who have a college or junior college degree in psychology, education,medicine, philosophy, journalism, society, and so on (see Table 1 for a detailed description of thiscertification exam) and complete a short-term government authorized career training course. Thisseems to imply that counseling and psychotherapy are regarded as distinct professions by the Chi-nese government.

In the past decade, professional organizations in the field of psychology have been trying toregulate the practice of counseling and psychotherapy by establishing them as specialties underthe subdiscipline of clinical and counseling psychology. It is by no means an easy task. To makethe situation more complex, currently “psychologists” do not belong to a legally recognized pro-fession in China. Although the Chinese Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of Chinalegally recognizes the academic discipline of psychology, there is no national certification examor registry system to recognize psychologists.

The final point needed to be addressed is the relationship between counseling psychology andclinical psychology. In some countries, such as the United States, counseling psychology and clin-ical psychology are distinct disciplines within the broader field of Psychology, and professionalswho practice psychotherapy or/and counseling often belong to different professional organiza-tions. However, in China efforts have been made to combine the two into one subdiscipline withinpsychology and professional organizations do not make a distinction.

Thus this article aims to provide a general picture of the current professional ethical issues incounseling and psychotherapy, mainly through the eyes of clinical and counseling psychologistsin China. Nevertheless, it should be noted that those who are now practicing psychotherapy orcounseling in China have many different educational backgrounds other than counseling and clin-ical psychology. It is hoped that this article reflects how Chinese professionals strive to developethical standards to regulate professional behaviors and fight for their professional status.

Accordingly, this article first provides a review of the history of counseling and psychotherapyin China and previous efforts to develop ethical standards in China. Then, based on the findings of

PROFESSIONAL ETHICAL ISSUES 291

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some empirical studies concerning professional ethics in China, important professional ethical is-sues are reviewed and discussed under three themes: (a) general ethical awareness, ethical viola-tions and dilemmas; (b) culturally specific ethical dilemmas and violations; and (c) ethical deci-sion making. In the third part of this article, the process of developing professional standards andthe main content of the newly developed Chinese Psychological Society (CPS) Code of Ethics forClinical and Counseling Psychology are presented. Finally, we discuss the major considerationsin developing ethical standards as well as the future challenges faced by Chinese professional or-ganizations and individual practitioners in the domain of professional ethics.

HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

The History of Counseling and Psychotherapy in China

The development of counseling and psychotherapy in China has witnessed several ups and downs.The psychoanalytic theories were first introduced to China in the 1910s and articles on psychoan-alytic theories and techniques, such as dream analysis and free association, were introduced in afew books published in the 1910s and 1920s. In the 1930s, articles promoting the use and describ-ing the principles of behavior therapy to formulate the treatment of psychological disorders werepublished (Chen & Qian, 1997). Also in the 1930s, counseling and psychotherapy clinics ap-peared in cities such as Chongqing, Beijing, and Shanghai; however, these efforts were hamperedduring the Anti-Japanese War period (i.e., during World War II).

After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, a few cases using behavior therapy totreat patients were reported in the 1950s (Chen & Qian, 1997). However, because China was greatlyinfluenced by the former Soviet Union, all approaches and schools from Europe and the United Stateswere distained and rejected, and no real progress was made in counseling and psychotherapy. From thelate 1950s to the early 1960s, psychologists cooperated with psychiatrists to develop a Rapid Compre-hensive Therapy for the treatment of neurasthenia, which was proved to have good effects (MedicalPsychology Group of CPAI, 1959; Li et al., 1958; Wang, 1961). These efforts inspired interests in psy-chotherapy in professional circles, but this line of development was again halted because of the Cul-tural Revolution in China (1966–1976). During this 10-year period, psychology was criticized as be-ing “pseudoscience” and the condition for developing counseling and psychotherapy became evenworse. All attempts to develop counseling and psychotherapy were halted.

Although the theories and methods of western psychotherapy were introduced into China quiteearly, a genuine understanding and application of these theories and methods did not begin untilthe 1980s. Since then, theories and methods of almost every major approach to psychotherapyhave been introduced into China. From the early 1980s to the mid 1980s, counseling and psycho-therapy clinics gradually appeared in major cities throughout China. The field witnessed its firstwave of expansion from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, during which time the number of articlesrelated to clinical and counseling psychology published in Chinese professional journals rapidlyincreased; the quality of those articles also improved. Meanwhile, the number of people who re-ceived counseling and psychotherapy and the number of therapeutic theories and approaches usedalso increased (Chen & Qian, 1997). Counseling and psychotherapy clinics were established incolleges, universities, and hospitals in many cities around China, several professional centers forcounseling and psychotherapy emerged and some professionals established their own private

292 M. QIAN ET AL.

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practices. Moreover, several professional committees of counseling and psychotherapy werefounded during this period in China—one of them was under the CPS and another was under theChinese Association for Mental Health (CAMH). Both organizations are registered under the Chi-nese Science and Technology Association and are legally recognized by the government. The CPSis a counterpart to the American Psychological Association (APA), and the majority of the mem-bers of CPS either hold a master’s degree or a PhD in psychology or has at least obtained the titleof assistant professor in psychology at a college or university. Only a few members are medicaldoctors with a master’s degree or a PhD in medical psychology. The members of the CAMH havemore diverse educational and career backgrounds, including psychologists, medical doctors, edu-cators, journalists, and so on. In fact, anyone whose work is related to the field of mental healthand is willing to accept the statutes of the association can apply for membership. These two orga-nizations are not exclusive to each other, so professionals working as counselors and/or psycho-therapists may be members of both organizations. With the establishment of these two profes-sional organizations, professional and academic activities in this field became more organized andthe academic atmosphere improved.

Beginning in 2002, the field of counseling and psychotherapy entered the phase of pro-fessionalization. At this phase, it witnessed rapid growth in all areas. As mentioned previously, thegovernment issuing regulations and certificates for counselors and psychotherapists was the land-mark event for this phase of development. In 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Labor and Social Se-curity (CMLSS) began to draft out the qualification regulations for counselors. A national occupa-tional criteria for counselors was issued and published in 2002 and later revised and republished in2005 (CMLSS, 2002, 2005). The first national examination for the certification of counselors washeld in 2003. In 2002, the Chinese Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Personnel invited ex-perts in the field to set up qualification regulations for professionals who practice psychotherapy.The first qualification examination for psychotherapists was held in October, 2002. Table 1 liststhe prerequisites and minimum qualifications for counselors based on the national occupationalcriterion for counselor (CMLSS, 2005).

The participation of the Chinese government in regulating the field as well as promulgating re-lated policies have helped to promote the development of counseling and psychotherapy in China;however, two major problems remain unresolved. The first problem is that the training courses re-quired to receive a counselor certificate are insufficient, in length and content, to train qualifiedcounselors. Second, according to the qualification regulations issued by the Chinese Health Min-istry for professionals who practice psychotherapy (Specialist Group for National Examinationfor the Certificate for Professional Technique in Health Occupation, 2003) a medical degree islisted as a prerequisite to become a certified psychotherapist. As a result, people who have othereducational backgrounds, particularly clinical and counseling psychologists, are excluded fromobtaining legal rights to practice psychotherapy; this may limit the development of the field ofpsychotherapy.

Over the course of the past several years, the number of people who have received related pro-fessional training has reached more than 100,000. Results from a recent survey study involving1,543 professionals who practice counseling and psychotherapy in 29 cities in mainland China(Qin et al., 2008) may reflect the general qualifications of those who currently practice counselingand/or psychotherapy in China. The average age of these professionals was 36.09 ± 8.81. Nearly80% of the professionals who participated in this investigation either hold a bachelor’s degree ormaster’s degree; however, educational levels vary significantly across different parts of the coun-

PROFESSIONAL ETHICAL ISSUES 293

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try. For example, there is a high percentage of professionals who hold master’s degrees in thesouthwest and south central regions of the country, whereas the percentage of professionals whohold junior college degrees is higher in the northwest regions. As for their educational back-grounds, 34.8% majored in psychology, 25.3% majored in medicine, 17.4% majored in education,and 19.5% came from other backgrounds. The percentage of professionals in this sample who par-ticipate in supervision and self-experience is generally low—26.5% and 25.3%, respectively.Nearly 50% of professionals have participated in some forms of case discussion. Although it isclear that these professionals still lack appropriate training, the general qualification of profes-sionals has significantly improved since the 1980s and 1990s.

In another study, Zhao, Wu, and Neng (2003) searched both Chinese and international articles onpsychotherapy. The Chinese articles, published from 1981 to 2000, were collected using the ChineseBiological and Medical database and the international articles, published from 1981 to 1999, werecollected using the Medline database. Zhao and Neng (2003) then compared the results of these arti-cles and concluded that although there were significantly fewer Chinese articles, the field of psycho-therapy in China has indeed experienced a period of rapid growth since the 1990s.

The Development of Ethical Standards in Clinical and Counseling Psychologyin China

When founded in 1892, the APA did not establish any ethical standards for its professionals. Ethi-cal complaints from patients and practitioners facilitated the formation of the APA Ethics Com-mittee, as well as the development of the APA code of ethics (J. P. Zhao & Ji, 2003). Most of theseethical standards refer to the professional work in clinical psychology and psychological counsel-ing. In confirmed cases of ethical violations, different levels of warnings are given for minor of-fenses, and a professional’s license to practice may be suspended or revoked for severe offenses.

The development of the code of ethics for the psychology profession in China is similar to thatin the United States. However, it should be noted that no ethical standard has been developed per-taining to the entire field of psychology in China and this situation may be related to the fact thatpsychologist is not a legally recognized profession in China and no specific working areas havebeen delineated for Chinese psychologists. As a discipline, the development of psychology is sim-ilar to the development of counseling and psychotherapy in China. It was not until the end of theCultural Revolution that colleges and universities began to reestablish psychology as a formal aca-demic discipline. The Department of Psychology at Peking University, founded in 1978, was thefirst department of psychology in the People’s Republic of China. For a long time, there were onlyfour psychology departments in China; this number slowly increased to more than 20 in the 1990s.The number of departments and schools of psychology at universities and colleges in China beganto surge in this century. According to a nongovernmental estimate (personal communication,Yanjie Su, December 2008), at the end of 2008 there were 224 subspecialties, departments, orschools of psychology in China.

By the end of the 1980s, some professionals proposed that professionals who practiced counselingand psychotherapy should be regulated. As a result, the CPS and the CAMH commissioned the Com-mittee of Medical Psychology under CPS (at the time, this was the only committee related to the fieldof counseling and psychotherapy in CPS, as CPS did not have its own clinical and counseling psychol-ogy committee until the late 1990s) and the Committee of Psychotherapy and Counseling underCAMH to draft regulations for professional certification for counselors and psychotherapists. These

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two committees began to prepare this draft in 1988. After reviewing the ethical standards of profes-sional organizations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and other countries, in1990 a group of professionals including Mingyi Qian, Zhonggen Chen, Xintian Li, Zhenyun Wu,Youwen Zhao, Youxin Xu, and Youbin Zhong completed this draft, which was comprised of less than2,000 Chinese characters. In fact, this daft was both a code of ethics and a regulation for the profes-sional certification process. Unfortunately, this draft has never been officially enacted in a real sense.

After another 4-year effort and some minor revisions, this draft was finally published in 1993 inthe professional journal of the CPS (CPS & CMHA, 1993). Besides this draft, a code of ethicsconcerning the use of psychological tests (the 1993 draft did not include regulations on how to usepsychological tests) was published in the same issue. These two publications were the first formalpublications concerning professional ethical standards for psychologists in China.

In 1999, another attempt to develop professional ethical standards was made by several profes-sionals who practiced counseling and psychotherapy with support from the CAMH. Based on a re-vision of the former draft, a new “code of ethics for professional counselors and psychotherapists”and new “regulations for the registration of professional counselors and psychotherapists,” whichtook into consideration the state of counseling and psychotherapy in China at that time were is-sued. The 1999 code of ethics consists of five sections: general principles, professional responsi-bilities, professional relationships, confidentiality, and organization and management. Comparedto the former draft, the 1999 ethics code listed more concrete and detailed regulations for profes-sional ethical behavior. For instance, this code of ethics stated that professionals should not dis-criminate against a client because of race, nationality, gender, religion, or values. It also prohibitedprofessionals from forming dual relationships with clients.

Although the content of this edition was more comprehensive and more implementable com-pared to the former draft, it was never put into practice; it was only discussed by members of theCAMH and distributed to local divisions of the association for educational purposes.

Despite setbacks and frustrations, members of these two committees did not give up. Their un-remitting efforts together with the call from the academic field for the regulation of the field ofcounseling and psychotherapy finally led to the issuance1 of the “National Occupational Criteriafor Psychological Counselors” by the CMLSS and the establishment of the professional title of“psychotherapist” as a medical specialty under the supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Health.

The “National Occupational Criteria for Psychological Counselors”, which was published bythe CMLSS in 2002 and then revised and republished in 2005, as well as the reference books forthe national examination for certification of psychotherapists recommended by the Chinese Min-istry of Health (SGNECPTHO, 2003) all contain some information related to professional ethicalissues. However, the coverage is very limited and no concrete ethical standards or related regula-tions are mentioned in those documentations or books. For instance, in the latest edition of the“National Occupational Criteria for Psychological Counselors” (CMLSS, 2005), only four ethicalstandards are mentioned: (a) Respect the rights of the client, (b) promote the psychological andphysical well-being of the client, (c) respect the privacy of the client and do not reveal his or her

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1The draft and the issuance of the “National Occupational Criteria for Psychological Counselors” was mainly an effortby experts from the CMHA and they were invited by the CMLSS, responsible for drafting and final issuance of the docu-ment. As to the establishment of the professional title of “psychotherapist,” the Chinese Ministry of Health commission theChinese Mental Health Research Institute to set up a group of experts in the field to draft the related documents and the firstauthor of this aricle was one of them.

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personal information to the public, (d) establish a professional relationship with the client basedon the principle of equality and do not establish other forms of relationship with the client(CMLSS, 2005).

CURRENT ETHICAL ISSUES IN CHINA

As stated earlier, over the course of just a few years, more than 100,000 people have received train-ing for the national psychological counselor certificate. However, there are very few advanced ed-ucation programs for clinical and counseling psychology at universities. Due to the lack of profes-sional ethical standards in psychology in China, courses on ethical standards are scarce andusually last no more than 10 hours in most training programs. In 2005, the Department of Psychol-ogy at Peking University offered a course on professional ethical standards in clinical psychology,which, up until this point, is the only clinical psychology program at a university level to offersuch a course. At the end of 2006, Ji and Zhao (2006) published a book titled Ethical Issues inCounseling and Psychotherapy. Though this book is limited in volume and is based on ethicalstandards in psychology in the United States, it is the first book on professional ethics in the fieldin China.

To get a general picture of the professional ethical issues in China, the authors searched thekeywords psychotherapy, counseling, and professional ethics for related literature published from1999 to 2008 in the Chinese Professional Journal Data Base. Nearly 30 articles related to profes-sional ethics in counseling and psychotherapy were found, more than 80% of which were pub-lished after 2005. Nearly half of the articles were introductions to and discussions of professionalethical principles based on codes of ethics in western countries (e.g., Y. Li & Qian, 2007; J. B.Zhao & Ji, 2006). One third of the articles focused on the discussion of ethical standards and viola-tions related to specific therapeutic methods or therapeutic conditions, such as ethical issues re-lated to crisis intervention (Luo & Xiao, 2007), or ethical issues related to internet counseling(e.g., Wu, Zhang, & Yu, 2006). There were only four survey-based articles related to ethicalawareness and attitudes among Chinese professionals. There was no empirical study concerningprofessional ethics.

General Ethical Awareness, Ethical Violations, and Dilemmas

Several survey-based and interview-based studies were conducted among professionals in Chinato explore general ethical awareness, incidences of ethical violations, and features of ethical di-lemmas faced by Chinese professionals.

Zhang, Qian, and Yao (2007) used a survey developed by Gibson and Pope (1993) to conduct astudy on 145 Chinese counselors and psychotherapists. These professionals were either attendeesat an international psychotherapy workshop or a national congress on counseling and psychother-apy held during May and June 2006. Participants’ ages ranged from 23 to 65, and 65.5% were fe-male. The majority of participants held a bachelor’s degree (51.4%), 38.6% held a master’s de-gree, and 7.1% held a doctor’s degree. Nearly half of the participants (44.8%) were schoolteachers, 33.8% worked in hospitals, and 8.3% were private practitioners. The purpose of the orig-inal survey of Gibson and Pope was to explore whether American counselors understand and sup-port the ethical code of the American Counseling Association (ACA); thus the survey is based on

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seven ethical principles of the ACA Code of Ethics. Five hundred seventy-four American counsel-ors participated in the survey. All of the participants were registered counselors with the NationalBoard for Certified Counselors. Participants’ ages ranged from 35 to 50, and 51% were female.The majority of the American participants (67%) held a master’s degree and the rest held a doc-tor’s degree.

Zhang et al. (2007) compared the Chinese and American professionals’ results and found thatcompared with Chinese professionals, a larger number of American professionals regarded thesurvey items to be ethical behaviors. As reflected in this survey, Chinese professionals demon-strate a strong awareness of professional ethics, but they require more training in regards to the is-sue of confidentiality. For instance, compared with American participants, a larger number of Chi-nese participants regarded “not to inform the client of the aim of psychological assessment,” “torecord a session without acquiring consent from the client,” and “not to inform the client of excep-tions to confidentiality” to be ethical behaviors. Moreover, the comparison may reveal some cul-tural differences related to professional ethical behaviors. For example, compared with Chineseparticipants, a larger number of American participants regarded “to address the client by his/hergiven name without using his/her family name,” “to allow the client to address the counselor byhis/her given name without using his/her family name,” “to shake hands with the client,” and “toembrace the client” as ethical behaviors. The authors argue that these differences perhaps saymore about cultural differences than they do about ethical awareness, because some interpersonalmanners that are widely accepted in America are regarded as inappropriate in China, and viceversa.

In another article, these authors used data from the same sample to compare results betweenChinese professionals who work in universities and schools and physicians who work in hospitals(Zhang, Qian, & Yao, 2008). Statistical analysis revealed that the responses of the two groups onlydiffered in 14 of 88 items. The authors argue that, in regards to professional ethical beliefs andawareness, there is little variance between these two groups. Specifically, Zhang et al. (2008)found that compared to hospital physicians, a larger number of professionals from schools settingsseem to be more willing to get involved in the private lives of their clients outside the counselingroom; for example, psychological professionals who work in schools regarded “to participate in aspecial activity of the client (such as a wedding)” (45.5% vs. 21.1%) and “to send a holiday greet-ing card to a client” (61.8% vs. 31.9%) to be ethical. School-based professionals in China alsoseem to be more willing to actively protect the rights of the client, as they regarded “to help clientsdisclose a colleague’s unethical behavior” (67.3% vs. 40.7%) as ethical. Hospital-based profes-sionals, on the other hand, seem to be more willing to “keep boundaries” and stress the importanceof payment in counseling and psychotherapy services. For instance, a larger number of physiciansregarded “may stop counseling or therapy if the client cannot pay the bill” (52.7% vs. 29.1%) and“to utilize one’s job situation to transfer clients to one’s private practice” (20.4% vs. 7.3%) to beethical. The authors argue that these differences might be because of the differences between thegeneral working situations of the two groups. Professionals who work at schools are teachers andare usually more emotionally involved in their clients’ lives, which may put them at higher risk ofdeveloping dual relationships with their clients. Professionals who work at hospitals are physi-cians and thus tend to behave more like doctors, rather than counselors or psychotherapists, intheir clinical practice (Zhang et al., 2008).

In a recent survey, X. Li, Wang, Fan, Ding, and Zhang (2007) investigated the ethical issues thatface sports psychologists. Three different questionnaires for athletes, coaches, and sports psychol-

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ogists were developed based on a literature review. Six hundred forty athletes, 120 coaches, and 49sports psychologists completed surveys. The most prominent ethical problem reported by athletes(38.8%) was, “The counselor breaks the rule of confidentiality and reveals the content of counsel-ing to one’s coach”; for coaches (74.2%) it was, “The athlete’s behavior force one to interfere inhis/her privacy”; and for counselors (72.5%) it was, “Administrative staff or managers intervene incounseling”.

Qian, Deng, Gao and their colleagues (Deng, Qian, Gao, Huang, & Zhang, 2008; Qian, Gao,Deng, Huang, & Zhang, 2006) conducted semistructured interviews concerning professional eth-ics with 48 professionals. The ages of these professionals ranged from 25 to 68, and 62.5% werefemale. Participants’ clinical experience ranged from 6 months to 22 years; 27.1% had less than 5years of clinical experience, 48.0% had clinical experience ranging from 5 to 10 years, and the resthad more than 10 years of working experience. Participants’ weekly clinical workload rangedfrom 2 to 25 hr, with an average of 6 hr. Among these professionals, 39.58% hold a doctoral de-gree, 39.58% hold a master’s degree, and 18.75% hold a bachelor’s degree. About one third of theprofessionals were teachers, 25% were psychiatrists, and another one third were counselors. Fourtypes of questions were explored in the interview: (a) cases of ethical violations they have heard ofor witnessed, (b) cases of ethical dilemmas they have faced, (c) issues that should be included in acode of professional ethical standards in China, and (d) issues they regard as important when es-tablishing professional ethics in China. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded forcontent analysis (Deng et al., 2008; Qian et al., 2006).

It was found that all 48 professionals reported having heard of or witnessed cases of violationsof ethical standards. These cases are mainly in the following five categories:

1. Professional relationships, including sexual and nonsexual dual relationships: For in-stance, some professionals were reported to engage in sexual relationships with theirclients, or to utilize their status as therapists to sexually harass their female clients, orto marry their clients. Regarding nonsexual dual relationships, some professionalswere reported to become friends with their clients or to have nonprofessional contactwith their clients (such as having dinner with one’s client).

2. Privacy and confidentiality: Some professionals were reported to record therapy ses-sions without permission from the client or to divulge their clients’ private details tothe media or the public.

3. Assessment and evaluation: Some professionals were reported to conduct unneces-sary assessments to increase their income or to provide clients with assessment resultswithout any explanation or to label children using results from intelligent tests.

4. Professional competency: For example, conducting certain assessments or practicinga certain therapy without proper training.

5. Research and publication: Such as deception or plagiarism.

In addition to cases of violations of ethical standards, all 48 professionals also reported having ex-perienced ethical dilemmas or conflicts in their practice. These are some common dilemmas:

1. Professional relationships: The greatest of all in this category is the dual relation-ship situation they experienced in their supervision, training, or teaching experi-ences. Another prominent dilemma they face is associated with receiving gifts fromclients.

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2. Confidentiality: The most common dilemma occurs when the professional ethicalconfidentiality regulations conflict with organizational rules or administrative man-dates. Another prominent dilemma reported by interviewees is whether to break con-fidentiality in cases where a client is at risk for suicide.

3. Laws and regulations: Because of the lack of specific laws and regulations in China,such as laws on child protection, professionals cannot take proper steps to protectchildren if they encounter cases of child abuse or neglect in counseling.

In summary, according to these studies, Chinese professionals in general still lack knowledgeof and training in professional ethics, especially in regards to professional relationships and confi-dentiality. Cases of ethical violations and ethical dilemmas are far from uncommon. Some profes-sionals do not realize they violate professional ethical standards and they do not know how to seekhelp when facing an ethical dilemma (Deng et al., 2008; Qian, 2006; Qian et al., 2006; Zhang,Qian, & Yao, 2007, 2008).

More Culturally Specific Ethical Dilemmas and Violations

As just mentioned, ethical violations and dilemmas in the category of dual relationships and confi-dentiality seem to be the most salient problems faced by Chinese professionals. This phenomenonmay be related to the collectivistic nature of Chinese culture where forming and keeping an “inter-personal network” is emphasized. This emphasis on interpersonal relationships may create extrachallenges for professionals to maintain ethical boundaries with one’s client and thus may lead toethical dilemmas or even ethical violations related to professional relationships and confidential-ity. Two studies have examined how Chinese culture may have a distinct influence on professionalethics related to professional relationships.

Gao, Qian, Choi, and Deng (2008) used a questionnaire based on the 2005 ACA Code of Ethicsto examine and compare practitioners’ and clients’ attitudes and beliefs toward professional ethicsin counseling and psychotherapy. The same 48 professionals who participated in the semi-structured interview study conducted by Qian et al. (2006) also participated in this survey. The cli-ents were from two counseling centers at a university in Beijing; their average age was 24.5 years,45.8% were male, and 64.6% were university students. It was found that the items that were mostcontroversial for clients and the items where clients and professionals demonstrated the most sig-nificant differences were all items related to confidentiality and professional relationships, espe-cially dual relationship issues. Almost half of the clients in this sample (47.9 %) consider it ethicalto form dual relationships with their therapists. The authors proposed that there are two possiblereasons for these results. First, as shown in former studies and ethical reports from other countries(Cottone & Claus, 2000; Gottlieb, 1994; Nigro, 2004), counselors are most vulnerable to ethicaldilemmas and even ethical complaints in issues related to professional relationships and confiden-tiality. For example, in the ACA Ethics Committee annual reports from 2001 to 2002, the top twocategories of informal complaints were confidentiality and professional relationship (Sanders &Freeman, 2003). Second, the result might reflect the influence of Chinese culture on shaping pro-fessional ethical behaviors and dilemmas. The authors argue that because of the importance of“face” and interpersonal relationships in Chinese culture, Chinese clients tend to accept and evenappreciate forming relationships with their therapist that go beyond the professional relationship.Chinese clients often actively seek this kind of dual relationship by sending gifts, inviting profes-

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sionals to dinners, or asking their acquaintances to introduce professionals to provide them withcounseling services. Because Chinese professionals are familiar with these interaction patternsand principles, it might be difficult for them to recognize the ethical implications of these behav-iors and thus may be more likely to experience ethical dilemmas and emotional conflicts underthese circumstances.

Qin et al. (2008) conducted a scenario-based study on one of the prominent ethical dilemmasfaced by Chinese professionals in counseling and psychotherapy, namely, the giving and receivingof gifts. The gift culture in China is based on tradition, which goes back thousands of years, and iswidely regarded as an acceptable way of expressing gratitude, kindness, friendship, and respectamong Chinese people. It is also seen as an important means to establish and maintain a relation-ship connection. Thus, this cultural tradition may pose extra pressure for counselors and therapiststo behave in an ethical way when dealing with the dilemma of receiving a gift from a client. In thestudy, the authors explored whether two groups of objective factors may affect a professional’s re-sponse to a gift: the characteristics of gifts and the characteristics of receivers. One hundred Chi-nese professionals who participated in an international congress on psychotherapy in China in2007 completed a 26-item questionnaire. The characteristics of the gift examined in this study in-clude the timing (i.e., when the gift was sent), the price of the gift, the nature of the gift (e.g., cheaphandmade card vs. an expensive picture pained by a renowned painter), the person who gives it,and gender of the client. Participants’ demographic variables include age, gender, therapeutic ap-proach, education background, and length of clinical experiences. It was found that professionals’decisions about whether they would accept a gift were significantly influenced by the characteris-tics of the gift. For example, a handmade gift from a client at the end of the therapeutic processwould be most likely to be accepted by the professionals. However, the characteristics of the pro-fessionals have little influence on whether he or she would accept a gift from a client; these resultsdiffers from similar studies conducted in Western cultures (e.g., Gibson & Pope, 1993). The au-thors argued that there may be other individual characteristics that are more influential, such as thedegree of identification and acceptance of the Chinese traditional cultural values of “face” or renqing (interpersonal relationship and mutuality).

Ethical Decision Making

Another ethical issue worth examining is the decision-making process in ethical dilemmas. In thesurvey done by Zhang et. al. (2007), participants were asked to choose the basis for their deci-sion-making process when faced with an ethical dilemma. It was found that 76.6% of profession-als chose “professional training” as their reference, 62.9% chose “personal common sense,” and27.6% chose “professional books and journals.” The other bases for decision making listed by par-ticipants include one’s clinical experience, therapeutic approach, conscience, personal beliefs,laws and regulations, intuition, and lessons learned by one self or from colleagues.

In a recent study, Y. Li and Qian (2008) investigated 156 counselors and therapists on their pro-fessional ethical values and how they make decisions in ethical dilemma scenarios. The averageage of the participants was 37.67 (± 9.38) and 64.7% were female. The majority of the profession-als held a bachelor’s degree (41%) or a master’s degree (41%). Participants were first asked to ratethe importance of ethical values in a 7-point Likert scale. They were then asked to read six ethicaldilemma scenarios and rate whether they thought this particular behavior was ethical and whichethical principle they would choose as the basis for their judgment. Participants were presented

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with three types of scenarios: (a) a client tries to contact the professional outside of the session,(b) the professionals increase the payment, and (c) an acquaintance tries to introduce a client to theprofessional. Thirteen ethical values are included in the study; nine of the values were adaptedfrom a study conducted by Jennings et al. (2005). The authors summarized the nine ethical valuesheld by American master therapists. These nine values include relational connection, autonomy,beneficence, nonmalefience, competence, humility, professional growth, openness to complexityand ambiguity, and self-awareness. The other four values were general principles listed in the newCPS code of ethics: responsibility, integrity, justice, and respect. The study found that Chineseprofessionals tended to give very high ratings on all ethical principles; the top three ethical princi-ples rated by these professionals included respect, responsibility, and justice. However, their rat-ings of ethical values fail to predict the result of their decision-making process in ethical dilemmascenarios.

These results were not consistent with the study conducted by Jennings et al. (2005). The au-thors then used a semistructured interview to explore how therapist’s ethical values influence theirdecision making in professional ethical dilemma situations as well as other potential factors thatmight influence their decision making. Sixteen professionals participated in this interview study,and 11 were female. It was found that Chinese professionals tend to hold bidirectional explana-tions in a single ethical value. For instance, professionals who rated a certain behavior as unethicalmight judge the same behavior as ethical in their real practice situation and list the same ethicalprinciple as the basis for their judgments. They also may use a certain strategy to bypass the di-lemma. For instance, a dilemma mentioned by an interviewee was that a colleague asked this pro-fessional to do counseling for her child. Although the interviewee regarded it unethical to do coun-seling for this child, she did not want to decline her colleague’s request. Because this refusal wouldimpair the relationship between her colleague and her because, in Chinese culture, not doing such a“favor” for one’s colleague was regarded as being inconsiderate and selfish. A strategy she used tobypass this dilemma was to see the child for a general interview and then transferred the child to an-other professional. By using this strategy, this interviewee managed to behave ethically while abid-ing by the common rule of ren qing in Chinese society (Li & Qian, 2008). The authors argued thatthis finding partly explains why the scores of professional ethical values could not predict the wayprofessionals make ethical decisions; it may also reflect the dialectic thinking style emphasized bythe Chinese. Finally, these results indicate that professionals who have not received formal trainingin professional ethics use their own intuition or personal beliefs to make decisions in ethical di-lemma situations and their decision making strategies are situationally specific.

In conclusion, as can be seen from the literature review and discussion just presented, manyChinese professionals report encountering ethical dilemmas in their daily work and ethical viola-tions are frequently heard of or witnessed. Chinese professionals also find it difficult to make ethi-cal dilemma decisions and may use their personal experience or intuition as the basis for decisionmaking. This is partly because there have been no specific ethical standards for professionals tofollow (the CPS code of ethics was only recently published in 2007) and structured training oppor-tunities in professional ethics and conduct have been very limited. Another possible reason is theinfluence of Chinese culture, especially its emphasis on interpersonal relationship networks, mu-tuality, and reciprocality, as well as hierarchy and respect of authority, which are all salient fea-tures in collectivistic cultures such as China. These cultural values may collide with ethical princi-ples and standards that are widely accepted in individualistic cultures like the United States orEuropean countries, such as respecting and promoting the client’s autonomy, keeping clear

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boundaries and avoiding dual relationships, as well as the importance of confidentiality in therapy.Thus, it is especially difficult for Chinese professionals to follow certain principles or standardsthat are widely accepted in individualistic western cultures; furthermore, pressures from Chinesecultural norms and traditions may bring about ethical dilemmas and even violations. This hypoth-esis is partly confirmed by the literature review in this section. However, further empirical re-search is needed to clarify how certain cultural norms or characteristics influence ethical behavior,such as the dual relationship issue and the ethical decision-making process.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETYCODE OF ETHICS FOR CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY

The Background and Process of the Development of CPS Code of Ethics

To solve the current problems in the professional field of psychology, to ensure the interests of cli-ents and professionals, and to further promote the development of clinical and counseling psy-chology in China, it is essential to develop a code of ethics to regulate the professional field.

This mission was first conceived in 2004 and a formal plan began to take shape in 2005. From2005 to 2007, under the direct leadership of the Executive Committee of the CPS, threeworkgroups, each with distinct responsibilities, were set up. The first group works on the develop-ment of professional ethical standards as well as the establishment and implementation of a regis-tration system for clinical and counseling psychology professionals and organizations, the secondgroup works on registering professional organizations and individual practitioners, and the thirdgroup works on implementing the professional ethical standards. The third workgroup is also re-sponsible for explaining ethical standards, checking the ethical conduct of individual practitionersand professional organizations that apply for registration, filing ethical violation complaints, andprocessing cases of ethical violations.

Based on a review of international literature, as well as the advice from local and foreign pro-fessionals, two important documents were drafted by the three workgroups: the “Chinese Psycho-logical Society Registration Criteria for Professional Organizations and Individual Practitionersin Clinical and Counseling Psychology” (CPS, 2007a) and the “Chinese Psychological SocietyCode of Ethics for Clinical and Counseling Practice” (CPS, 2007b). These two documents wereunanimously approved by the CPS Executive Committee on February 5, 2007.

Mingyi Qian, Xiangyi Chen, Zhijin Hou, and Ming Li are key members in the CPS workgroupsto develop the CPS code of ethics. Before drafting the CPS code of ethics, group members re-viewed related documents by the APA, ACA, American National Association of Social Workers,American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, British Psychological Society, CanadianPsychological Association, and European Association of Psychotherapy and documents ofprofessional organizations in Hong Kong and Taiwan (American Association for Marriage andFamily Therapy, 2001; ACA, 2005; APA, 2002; British Psychological Society, 1995; CanadianPsychological Association, 2000; European Association of Psychotherapy, 1997; Hong KongPsychological Society, 1998; National Association of Social Workers, 1996; Taiwan ChineseCounseling Association, 1990; Taiwan Legislative Council, 2001). Meanwhile, the group mem-bers also reviewed the related Chinese research in the field. Based on these reviews and throughrepeated discussions, the draft of the CPS code of ethics took shape. This draft was then put on the

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website of CPS to collect opinions and suggestions from professionals in mainland China and theHong Kong area. In addition, members of the three workgroups were assembled for four times todiscuss this draft and several revisions were made before the final edition of the CPS code of ethicswas approved unanimously by the executive committee of CPS.

The Main Contents of the Chinese Psychological Society Code of Ethics forCounseling and Clinical Practice (2007)

The main content of the CPS code of ethics contains the preamble, the general principles and theethical standards. The preamble explains the aim of this code of ethics, that is, to

help all the clinical and counseling psychologists, those who seek professional services and the gen-eral public to achieve a better understanding of the core ideas of the professional ethics as well as pro-fessional responsibilities in the field of counseling and psychotherapy practice. It serves as an ethicalguide designed to guarantee and promote the standards of the service provided in the field of counsel-ing and psychotherapy practice. It helps to guarantee the rights and interests of those who seek profes-sional service as well as that of all the clinical and counseling psychologists. It helps promote the men-tal health status and enhance the welfare and wellbeing of the general public, so as to facilitate thedevelopment of a harmonious society. This Code of Ethics applies to all the clinical and counselingpsychologists registered in CPS and thus serves as a basis for processing ethical complaints and inqui-ries initiated against those who register as a clinical and counseling psychologist in CPS. (CPS, 2007b,p. 947)

The CPS code of ethics’ five general principles include: beneficence, responsibility, integrity,justice, and respect.

The CPS code of ethics contain the following seven sections: professional relationship; privacyand confidentiality; professional responsibility; assessment and evaluation; teaching, training,and supervision; research and publication; and resolving ethical issues.

The section of professional relationship includes 12 articles concerning conducts such as in-formed consent, dual relationship, intimate relationship, and payment. It forbids professionals totake advantage of their professional status to satisfy their own interests. It also defines the appro-priate relationship between professionals and their colleagues as well as professionals from otherfields.

The section of privacy and confidentiality includes seven articles concerning the confidential-ity in professional work and its limitations and exceptions. It also refers to the regulation on con-ducts, such as the preservation and usage of case record, assessment materials, tapes, and videos.

The section of professional responsibility includes eight articles on the requirements of profes-sionals for further education and supervision. It emphasizes the importance of self-care amongprofessionals. It requires professionals to keep an open, honest and accurate attitude when de-scribing themselves and their services when facing the public or in the media.

The section of assessment and evaluation includes six articles that require professionals to re-ceive proper training before using any assessments and to not misuse any assessment tools.

The section of teaching, training, and supervision includes seven articles that require profes-sionals to keep an honest, serious, and responsible manner when teaching, conducting training,and doing supervision. It emphasizes that the aim of teaching and supervision is to elevate the pro-

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fessional competency of students and supervisees. It also emphasizes the importance of keeping aprofessional relationship with students and supervisees. It requires professionals to give honestand fair evaluations to their students and supervisees. It forbids professionals to take advantage oftheir professional status to satisfy their own needs.

The section of research and publication includes nine articles that require professionals to re-spect the interests of their research participants as well as that of those who make contribution tothe research. It forbids unnecessary deception and plagiarizing.

The section of resolving ethical issues includes eight articles that provide a framework of howto resolve conflicts when facing ethical dilemmas as well as how to file complaints about ethicalviolation.

Compared with the 1999 code of ethics, the new CPS code of ethics changed the structure ofthe code into three parts by adding a preamble and separating the general principles from the sec-tions of ethical standards. In the general principle section, the new code lists five general princi-ples and their explanations, compared to the old edition, which only listed four articles concerningobserving law and regulations, promoting one’s own mental health, promoting one’s competence,and knowing one’s limitations. In the ethical standards section, three sections from the old editionwere retained—the professional responsibility, the professional relationship, and confidential-ity—but in the new code, the old articles were revised and new articles were added for each sec-tion. Four new sections are added: assessment and evaluation; teaching, training, and supervision;research and publication; and resolving ethical issues.

Table 2 compares the structure and the main contents of the CPS (2007b) Code of Ethics forCounseling and Clinical Practice with the APA’s (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists andCode of Conduct and the ACA’s (2002) Code of Ethics.

As seen in Table 2, the general principles of the CPS code of ethics are more similar to that ofthe APA code of ethics, whereas the sections of ethical standards are more similar to that of theACA code of ethics. This is due to the nature of the CPS code of ethics; it is a code of ethics forclinical and counseling psychology, and it serves to regulate those professionals who practicecounseling and psychotherapy. However, although the CPS code of ethics is much more concreteand detailed than the 1999 edition, if compared with the code of ethics from the APA or ACA, it isstill very short, and the content is not as comprehensive and concrete as that of ACA code of eth-ics. For instance, the counseling relationship section in the ACA code of ethics contains 12 mainarticles, and each main article contains 4 to 8 subarticles, whereas the professional relationshipsection in the CPS code of ethics only contains 13 main articles with no subarticle. There is also noarticle related to specific therapeutic conditions, such as end-of-life care for terminally ill clientsor technology-assisted service. Nevertheless, although the articles of the CPS code of ethics maystill be too general, it is indeed a code of ethics that reflects the current situation of counseling andpsychotherapy in China and is thus feasible under the current situation in China. This point is dis-cussed in the next section.

The Major Considerations in Developing Ethical Standards

Two major considerations were taken into account in the development of this new CPS code ofethics. The first consideration was whether it would reflect the current situation in the field and thesecond was whether it could be practically implemented to the current situation in China.

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For the first consideration, when developing concrete articles in different sections, the work-group members not only made themselves familiar with ethical standards of other internationalprofessional organizations but also paid special attention to whether those articles were feasibleunder the situation in China. For instance, when preparing the article on referring a client to otherprofessionals in clinical practice, based on similar articles in other professional organizations inWestern countries, it was required that professionals in clinical and counseling field should retaincontact with professionals from other fields. However, through further discussion, it was noticedthat a good communication network between professionals from different fields had not yet beendeveloped in China. Thus, this article could not be fully implemented under current situation inChina. This requirement was then omitted. Instead it is only emphasized in the new article thatpsychologists should form an active and cooperative relationship with their colleagues and profes-sionals from other fields (see in article 1.12 and 1.13).

In addition, because in Chinese culture, professionals tend to be regarded as authority by bothclients and professionals themselves, it is stipulated in this new code of ethics that “clinical andcounseling psychologists should respect the personal values of those who seek professional ser-

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TABLE 2The Comparison Among CPS-Clinical (2007), APA (2002), and ACA (2005)

CPS-Clinical (2007) APA (2002) ACA (2005)

Structure 3 parts:PreambleGeneral principlesEthicals standards

4 parts:Introduction and applicabilityPreambleGeneral principlesEthical standards

3 parts:PreamblePurposeEthical standards

Generalprinciples

5 principles:BeneficenceResponsibilityIntegrityJusticeRespect

5 principles:Beneficence and

nonmaleficenceFidelity and responsibilityIntegrityJusticeRespect for people’s rights

and dignityEthical

standards7 sections:

Professional relationshipPrivacy and confidentialityProfessional responsibilityAssessment and evaluationTeaching, training, and

supervisionResearch and publicationResolving ethical issues

10 sections:Resolving ethical issuesCompetenceHuman relationsPrivacy and confidentialityAdvertising and other public

statementsRecord keeping and feesEducation and trainingResearch and publicationAssessmentTherapy

8 sections:The counseling relationshipConfidentiality, privileged

communication, andprivacy

Professional responsibilityRelationships with other

professionalsEvaluation, assessment, and

interpretationSupervision, training, and

teachingResearch and publicationResolving ethical issues

Note. CPS = Chinese Psychological Society; APA = American Psychological Association; ACA = American Coun-seling Association.

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vice. They should not make decisions for those who seek professional service or impose their ownvalues on those who seek professional service” (see in article 1.5).

For the second consideration, the workgroup members decided to take a two-step procedure whendeveloping the standards. The first step was to set up a broad framework that included basic ideas ofethical standards. The second step was to add more concrete articles. This two-step procedure wasbased on the fact that the former two drafts of ethical standards issued by CPS and China Associationfor Mental Health were rather short and simple. Despite the fact that it is only a broad framework, thenewly developed code of ethics is more than three times the length of the 1999 edition. Moreover, con-sidering the fact that no ethical standard has ever been implemented in this field in China, it will take agreat amount of work and a long period of time to educate professionals and implement it in a realsense. It is agreed among the members that further improvement will be done when the time is right.

Future Challenges and Directions

The development and the implementation of professional ethical standards are closely related to thedevelopment and the implementation of a registration system for clinical and counseling psychology.

More than 200 professionals in the field of clinical and counseling psychology in China arenow registered as counseling and clinical psychologists or supervisors. Further improvements willbe made to build the Web site of the registration system and to improve the online services (thewebsite of the registration system is http://www.chinacpb.org/). Criterion for the counseling &clinical psychologists and organizations registration system, the CPC code of ethics, as well as thename lists of registered counseling & clinical psychologists and supervisors are published on thewebsite. Those who have passed the evaluation procedures and become registered professionalsare required to abide by the CPS code of ethics for counseling and clinical practice.

In the future, efforts will be made to improve the management of the registration system. As tothe domain of professional ethics, future work directions include the following:

1. To conduct training courses and workshops on the CPS code of ethics for registered coun-seling and clinical psychologists as well as supervisors. Several such workshops on ethi-cal standards in counseling and clinical psychology led by Mingyi Qian and Zhijin Houwere held in a few cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Kaifeng in Henan Province.

2. To educate a group of qualified teachers and trainers in clinical psychology and coun-seling psychology and to design a curriculum based on the articles concerning gradu-ate training programs in counseling and clinical psychology listed in the “CPS Regis-tration Criteria for Professional Organizations and Individual Practitioners in Clinicaland Counseling Psychology.”

3. To compile reference books on the CPS codes of ethics with clinical case illustrations,and to publicize and promote the implementation of the CPS Code of Ethics for Coun-seling and Clinical Practice.

4. To conduct empirical studies on professional ethics in counseling and psychotherapy, es-pecially on ethical dilemmas and ethical decision-making processes that reflect the influ-ence of culture on Chinese professionals, which may provide important references for re-vising the CPS code of ethics and training courses on professional ethics in the future.

5. To publicize the registration system among professionals and the public on a larger scaleso as to facilitate the understanding of this registration system as well as the CPS code of

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ethics. Efforts will also be made to gain acknowledgment from the government for thisregistration system and to influence related legislation at the state level if possible.

It is hoped that the new registration system and ethical standards in counseling and clinical psy-chology will gain influence within the professional field in China and help promote the healthydevelopment of the profession as a whole.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was supported by the philosophy and social science grant (05JZD00031) from theMinistry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and supported by the funds for HubeiHuman Development and Mental Health Key Laboratory (Grant No. 200705) of China.

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