Article Critique

Imagining Social Work: A Qualitative Study of Students’ Perspectives on Social Work in China Miu Chung Yan, Zhong-Ming Ge, Sheng-Li Cheng & A. Ka Tat Tsang

Social work education in China has expanded rapidly since it was reintroduced in 1988.

This has led to a growing body of English language literature on the development of social

work education in China. However, thus far, this literature lacks an empirical

foundation and little research on students’ perspectives has been done. To fill this gap,

this paper reports on a qualitative study of a group of graduating social work students

(n532) from four social work programmes in Jinan, the provincial capital of the

Shandong Province. Three major findings are reported. Firstly, the students liken their

social work learning experience to a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs.

Secondly, the cultural compatibility of western social work in China has not yet been

conclusively established, while an ‘indigenized’ social work needs to be compatible with

Chinese family values, referred to as ‘familism’ in direct Chinese to English translation,

and with the dominant socialist political ideology. Thirdly, the future of social work is

bright given increasing government support for its development.

Keywords: China; Social Work Education; Indigenization; Cultural Compatibility;

Social Work Students

Introduction

Since its reintroduction in 1988, social work education in China has evolved from

four to 200 programmes in 2007. This significant increase has gradually drawn

attention from the international social work community as reflected in the literature

Miu Chung Yan, University of British Columbia, Canada, Zhong-Ming Ge & Sheng-Li Cheng, Shangdong University,

China & A. Ka Tat Tsang, University of Toronto, Canada.

Correspondence to: Dr Miu Chung Yan, University of British Columbia, School of Social Work, 2080 West Mall,

Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada. Email: [email protected]

Social Work Education Vol. 28, No. 5, August 2009, pp. 528–543

ISSN 0261-5479 print/1470-1227 online # 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02615470802368959

published in Anglo–American academic journals (e.g. Leung, 1994; Yao, 1995; Ngai,

1996; Tsang and Yan, 2001; Xia and Guo, 2002; Yuen-Tsang, 2002; Chi, 2005; Ku

et al., 2005; Yan and Tsang, 2005; Yan and Cheung, 2006; Wong and Pearson, 2007;

Yip, 2007). Meanwhile, another publication of an edited volume of 46 papers, of

which 24 were written by scholars from Mainland China, presented at an

international symposium (Tsang et al., 2004) has also raised awareness among the

international community wanting a ‘snapshot’ of the development of social work

education in China. In brief, it is not uncommon to find explanations in this evolving

literature as to why social work as a social mechanism of helping has resurfaced in

China in the last two decades since economic reform was introduced. In this

literature, three mutually informing sets of issues have drawn a great deal of attention

from authors. The first set of issues relates to the cultural and political compatibility

of western social work—its individualistic values and central concern with human

rights and social justice—to China. These authors question whether, as a western

social construct, the Judeo–Christian based social work values and principles are

compatible with traditional Chinese culture. Secondly, questions are raised as to the

way in which the democratic and social justice principles of western social work

might be understood in the Chinese political reality. Thirdly, questions are raised as

to the role that social work could or should play in China given that the political

agenda is overwhelmingly focused on social stability and economic prosperity. The

second set of issues largely reflects the existing limitations of social work education in

China, such as lack of qualified social work educators, teaching materials, and field

practice opportunities, and the third, the future of social work in China. This

discussion centres on the creation of professional job opportunities for social work

graduates, the definition of fields of social work practice, the identity formation of

professional social work, and the ‘indigenization process’.

There are at least two limitations in this set of English-language literature which

are worth noting. First, except for a handful of papers, almost all the authors are

social work scholars outside Mainland China. In other words, most information

reported is observational rather than experiential. Secondly, very few of the papers are

empirically based. Yan and Tsang (2005) report the results of a Delphi study of 47

social work experts in China. However, the study was done in 2000 and 2001 and

much has changed since then, not least the massive expansion in social work

education in the last six years where it is estimated that it has tripled in size from 70

to 200 social work education programmes. More recently, Wong and Pearson (2007)

reported on the way in which a group of nine MSW social work students perceived

their professional identity formation through their field practice. The study is unique

in that it examines the students’ perspective but it is limited due to the small sample

size and a methodology based on a 500-word short essay in Chinese from each of the

nine students who participated. As the authors suggest, their study is only a ‘first step’

in understanding how social work students’ professional identity is being shaped in

China.

A myriad of literature on social work’s development has been published within

China in Chinese. Most papers are written by Chinese social work educators and, by

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and large, reflect their perspectives and interests. Most of the authors of the English-

language literature have extensively referenced the Chinese literature published in

China in their writing and, to some extent, have reflected the major issues as

constructed by Chinese social work educators. However, there is a growing body of

neglected literature in China—and many neglected perspectives, such as that of

students (Wong and Pearson, 2007) and clients—which tends to be ignored by

writers both in- and outside China. Like Wong and Pearson (2007), we believe that

social work students—graduates—will be a major force shaping the future of social

work in China. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted to investigate how social

work students perceived the nature and future of social work in China.

Methodology

The idea for and design of this study was the outcome of an international

collaboration between a group of social work educators from Canada and China. The

aim of the study was to examine the recent development of social work education in

China and to explore social work students’ perspectives on these developments. The

study was conducted in mid-2005 in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong

Province where the partner university in China was located. The paper reports on the

findings of this study to provide concrete empirical data on the development of social

work in China and, more importantly, to provide another perspective from which to

understand the development of social work education in China.

Recruitment of the Sample

The study sample was drawn from each of the four undergraduate and diploma level

social work programmes in Jinan. Table 1 provides a brief profile of the programmes

provided by the four social work training institutes: the diploma programme was

introduced in 1996 and the undergraduate programmes were established either in or

after 2000. As shown in Table 1, all of these programmes had faced similar challenges

to those described in the literature, such as lack of qualified teachers and insufficient

field practice. Their numbers of students and graduates also substantiated the

concern about the uncontrolled expansion of social work education. Only final year

or graduating—undergraduate—students were invited to participate in the study

since it was assumed that they would have a more comprehensive understanding of

the issues being investigated and a more realistic idea of the future of social work and

their personal career choices. In other words, the researchers were not only interested

in how social work educators were shaping their professional identity but also the job

opportunities that were available to them since, while there are more than 200 social

work education programmes in China, there are very few formal jobs for social work

graduates (Yan and Tsang, 2008). Eight BSW graduating students were recruited

from each of the four programmes through referrals from social work educators and

students in the schools under study. In all, 32 graduating students, 13 male and 19

female, were recruited for participation in the study.

530 M. Chung Yan et al.

Data Collection

Data collection was via a semi-structured interview—an interview guide was used

(see Appendix for the translated version since the interviews were conducted in

Mandarin)—conducted by four master students at the partner university in China

who had been trained by the principal investigator. The average time of the interview

varied but, on average, each took approximately 45 minutes. The interview questions

were designed to collect information from students on three major areas: (i) their

experience of studying social work; (ii) their perceptions of the function and purpose

of social work in China, the cultural compatibility of social work with Chinese

culture, prevailing political ideology, the commonsense of everyday people, and their

personal beliefs in helping; and (iii) their vision of the future of social work in China.

The curriculum taught across the four institutions from which the study sample was

drawn varied a great deal. As a result, responses regarding the nature and purpose of

social work varied. Nevertheless, the students’ perspectives on the issues raised were

quite similar. Each interview was audio-taped and the tapes were transcribed by the

respective interviewers.

Data Analysis

The principal investigator in Canada conducted the data analysis—in consultation

with the research partners via email—using NVivo, a computer assisted qualitative

data analysis software package. Following a content analysis of the transcripts, codes

and themes were generated from the raw data—in Chinese. Only the quotations

selected from the transcripts presented in this paper were translated into English. The

accuracy of the translation, which was initially done by the principal investigator, was

checked by the co-investigators of the study who are also the co-authors of this paper.

Table 1 Brief Profile of Social Work Institutes Studied

Social work training institutes

A* B C D

Year and nature of social work pro- gramme started

2000 2000 2000 (Diploma) 1996 Degree Degree 2001 (Degree) Diploma

Total no. of social work students in 2005

238 494 500 219

Total no. of social work graduates in 2005

44 230 201 62

Total no. of teachers for the social work programme in 2007

10 14 9 6

Total no. of teachers with MSW (including those in progress) in 2007

1 2 1 1

Total hours of field work 240 480 360 480 No. and gender of students inter- viewed

3M 4M 4M 2M 5F 4F 4F 6F

Note: * In order not to identify the students, we decided to use another set of synonyms to signify the institutes.

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Ethical Issues and Limitations of the Study

The ethics protocol of the study was approved by the ethics committee of the

university with which the principal investigator is affiliated. Written consent of each

participant was sought prior to the interview. To ensure anonymity, each participant

was given a coded identity assigned by the principal investigator. As an exploratory

qualitative study with a conveniently selected sample group, the findings of this study

cannot be generalized to all social work students or programmes in China. However,

they might shed some light on the current development of social work education in

China.

Findings

The main themes which emerged from the findings are discussed below. They were as

follows.

1. Studying social work was experienced as a roller coaster ride.

2. Social work must be culturally compatible with Chinese traditional culture and the

prevailing political ideology, and it must incorporate unique Chinese characteristics,

such as family values.

3. There was optimism about the future of social work in China.

1. Studying Social Work was Experienced as a Roller Coaster Ride

To most of the students interviewed, their emotional journey of social work

education was like a roller coaster ride and ranged from complete ignorance about

social work, to feeling passionate about the noble nature of this helping profession,

and then to feeling disenchanted with the current development of the profession in

China, and their own future upon graduation. It is important to note that many of

the respondents did not start their social work training on favourable terms. Only 12

students had chosen social work as their major subject when they applied to their

school. Instead, like many of their classmates, they were tiaoji 1

(literally means

switched) to the social work programme without their consent.

Most students who were tiaoji to the social work programme did not have a high

score in the public examination which determines whether or not they are admitted

to their chosen programme. This, in turn, reflected the status of social work in the

school. It can thus be imagined that many of them felt frustrated when they were

informed that they had been switched to the social work programme. This frustration

came from disappointment and, more often, from not knowing what social work was

about:

We were all taioji to this programme. At first, our scores of the advanced education examination were not too high. Some applied to law, English and Chinese. In the end, we were all taioji to here. … So, it can be said that most of us were disappointed when being taioji to here because we didn’t know anything about this

532 M. Chung Yan et al.

discipline. At the beginning, our motivation to class was not high, coupled with pessimistic emotion. (Z6)

However, for many interviewees, their frustration and ignorance did not last long.

The helping nature of the social work profession, the enthusiasm of their social work

teachers, their field experience through agency visits and field work quickly changed

their perceptions, particularly the preconceptions of those who were interested in

helping others:

Social worker is really very noble. Let me give you an example close to me. Like, I was emotionally touched by the teacher who taught me social group work. Needless to say, in class he always respected his job. (L6)

Many of them felt that their social work training had transformed them. It had

changed the way in which they communicated and interacted with people. They had

become more open to and supportive of others:

Although it is like that, I feel that I have learned something important in these four years which will bring some major impacts to my future work and life. For instance, the way I make friends with others, how I communicate with others. It will have impacts and I feel that these impacts are useful. (X3)

Many also felt that through the social work programme they had internalized the

values and principles of social work which would guide their way through different

passages in life:

Yet, the principles, values and perspectives that we learn from social work have influenced us; not only our work, our learning, our everyday life and our vision of life. Having learned social work, these are all connected. (Z3)

As graduating students, many of them expressed their gratitude for what they had

learned in the social work programme. To them, social work was a very meaningful

profession. However, the jobless reality had left many students feeling let down with

dashed hopes for a bright future:

Let’s talk about myself. I really hope to do this kind of work. However, now my hope is basically gone. My self-confidence has been hurt. You want to do it but you can’t. There is not even a chance for you to do it. (Z4)

It was difficult for many of the respondents to predict their personal future in view

of the present development of social work in China. Among all the interviewees, only

a small number (n55) reported that they would try to look for social work related

jobs. Many intended to pursue postgraduate—higher—education hoping that this

would make them more competitive and some said they would just find a job which

probably would not require social work training. Despite this gloomy future, many

still believed that what they had learnt in the social work programme would be useful

to them:

In terms of work, I probably will not practise this kind of work because my job has almost been fixed and it has nothing to do with social work. Even so, I feel that what I learned in these four years will have a very great impact on my work and my life. For instance it has certain impacts on my attitude when I interact with others

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and on my behaviour when I communicate with others. And, I feel that these influences are useful. (Z3)

Reflecting upon their experience, some said that they did not regret taking the

social work programme:

I have studied social work for four years. My feeling towards social work has gone through a process from feeling fresh to disappointed, and then at the end I feel I have established a confidence of its future. I think probably many social work students may have a similar process like me. I think at the end, I am still relatively optimistic about it. (L1)

In sum, to many of these interviewees, their experience of social work education

was not a smooth one. From being ignorant of social work to being passionate

about the profession and back to feeling disenchantment, their up and down roller

coaster emotions perhaps reflected the challenges of social work’s development in

China.

2. Cultural Compatibility between Western Social Work and Chinese Culture

In the literature, one of the major debates is about the cultural compatibility of

western 2

social work. The term ‘culture’ in this study was understood not only as (i)

traditional Chinese culture, but also as inclusive of (ii) the prevailing political

ideology, (iii) the commonsensical beliefs of the laobaixing (which roughly means the

everyday people), and (iv) the students’ personal beliefs of helping—which were

shaped by the values of the wider society (i–iii above). If traditional Chinese culture

were based on Confucius’s teachings—and other schools of thoughts which could be

classified as ‘high culture’—then we might refer to commonsensical beliefs among

laobaixing or everyday people as ‘low culture’. Although the former may have a

certain influence on the latter, the low culture is more about folklore and practice

wisdom accumulated in the everyday lived experience of the laobaixing. These four

different manifestations of culture mutually informed one another but each could

also lead to very different understanding of the cultural meaning of ‘imported social

work’.

(i) Compatibility with Chinese traditional culture

When asked whether Chinese traditional culture were compatible with the values of

social work, we received definitive responses: those who said ‘yes’ tended to think

that Confucian teachings had always emphasized mutual help and harmonious

relations. These, to them, were also basic to social work practice. Many of them

understood helping others as always being a part of traditional Chinese culture

which, from a Confucian perspective, means being born with a compassionate

disposition which leads to sacrifice of oneself and love for others. For instance, in

traditional Chinese culture, taking care of the ruoshi qunti (which roughly means the

disadvantaged and marginalized groups), particularly seniors and children, is always

regarded as a virtue:

534 M. Chung Yan et al.

I think this can be compatible. First and foremost, Chinese traditional culture advocates filial duties, which should be compatible. Social work offers help to elderly people as well as the marginal group, the idea of which connects social work with traditional Chinese culture. This is also something which the younger generation should do; social workers should also look after this group as well. (Z7)

According to their understanding, these traditional virtues were very close to

the social work values that they had learnt in their training. In contrast,

interviewees who argued that the traditional Chinese culture was not compatible

with western social work had a very different interpretation of the traditional

Chinese culture. First, they believed that the emphasis on individuality in western

social work might clash with the collective tendency embraced by traditional

Chinese culture. Secondly, to some students, because of this fundamental

difference, some basic social work principles, such as self-determination, were

problematic when examined from a traditional Chinese cultural perspective.

Thirdly, despite the prevalence of collectivistic understanding of Chinese

traditional culture, some students also intriguingly observed that there was a

great deal of emphasis on self-reliance which tended to discourage people from

seeking help from other people:

The overall trend [of Chinese culture] is to depend on one’s hard work—in other words, to realize one’s goals and one’s growth by virtue of one’s hard work and skills and not by means of external effort. Meanwhile, social work is mainly to help people, perhaps most Chinese people would not prefer to accept such help, let alone seeking help from social workers. The emphasis of self-effort is in the Chinese culture; it is also where the contradiction is. (L2)

However, the collectivistic perspective is not necessarily at odds with the notion of

self-reliance in Chinese culture. As one student pointed out, ‘many people in China

still believe in this principle, that is, to cultivate one’s person and rectify one’s mind,

regulate one’s family, govern well one’s state and rule well the world’. According to

this principle, the notion of self-reliance is supposedly to encourage people to seek

self-actualization from the personal domain, such as family first before contributing

to the public domain. However, as these students perceived, to a larger extent, this

might discourage people from seeking help.

(ii) Compatibility with the commonsensical beliefs of laobaixing (everyday people)

In terms of helping, is social work and Chinese culture, like the teachings of

Confucius, always compassionate? One student (L5) made a shrewd observation as to

the lack of consistency between traditional and commonsensical Chinese cultural

beliefs:

Although China has some traditional notions of helping people, like extending the idea of helping your elders to others’ elders and your youngsters to others’ youngsters. But it is only just a few notions, and they spring from some of the ideas that are related to tracing the root and origin. But deep down, it is still about ‘‘clean up one’s own snow at the front door and bother not with others’ snowflakes on their roof’’. (L5)

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In addition, high cultural values were also subject to reinterpretation and, as we found

in this study, tended to be seen as incompatible with western social work. For instance,

the Confucian idea of self-reliance implies a self-actualization process but when it is

reinterpreted in people’s everyday lives, it becomes a folklore which promotes the idea

that people should help themselves. As L1 mentioned, there is an old Chinese saying, it is

better to ‘beg for help ourselves than to ask for it from others’. Following this

interpretation, many students also believed that the virtue of self-reliance had led to a

popular commonsensical belief that people should not wash their dirty linen in public.

Z2 provided a popular example which was shared by most respondents who pointed out

the incompatibility of commonsensical everyday Chinese and social work beliefs:

As a traditional Chinese laobaixing’s belief, family should take care of their elderly. If a child sends their elders to institutions, the elders will have no face and feel this child has no filial piety. To the child, other people will also point their fingers at him/her and say he/she has no filial piety because he/she sends their elders to institutions. Let’s think about it, this may not be compatible. (Z2)

To a large extent, the respondents who saw western social work as incompatible with

Chinese cultural beliefs noted the embedded nature of Confucian ‘familism’—or the

priority of family—in the commonsensical or everyday beliefs of Chinese people.

Family values run so deep that they have created a kind of cultural practice that strongly

discourages people from seeking help from outside their family. If they really need to

ask for help, as many respondents understood it, Chinese people tended to follow a

‘differentiation mode of association’, a conceptual framework of familial relationship

constructed by the late sociologist, Fei Xiaotung (1983). According to this framework,

Chinese culture has a quasi-kinship system which extends from the immediate family

flexibly outward to people who are seen by the family as part of them (Yan, 1998). To

some respondents, this mode of association was very different from the Judeo–

Christian beliefs of western social work which stress fraternity, a love that is owed

equally to everyone. To these respondents, this hierarchical help seeking practice was

incompatible with western social work, which is a form of public service. In the

commonsensical world of China, public servants, even social workers, are generally

perceived as guan (government officials). As some of them mentioned, there is an old

Chinese maxim: even the best guan cannot judge the affairs within one’s family.

In short, judging from the findings, the cultural compatibility issue is inconclusive.

Partly, this is due to the internal inconsistent interpretation of cultural beliefs by

different people, and partly, due to the nature of culture as a constantly changing

phenomenon which is responsive to context. This is particularly true of China which,

in the last three decades, has been undergoing rapid transformation. Some students

are optimistic that the many incompatibilities between Chinese high and low cultural

practices and western social work will soon disappear, particularly in the urban areas.

(iii) Compatibility with dominant political ideology

So far, the communist government of China still insists that socialism is its guiding

ideology although a market economy has become firmly established in China. The

536 M. Chung Yan et al.

most recent policy goal is to establish a harmonious society in China despite the fact

that its ultimate purpose is to ensure stability of society for its economic boom. Many

respondents saw policy goals and purposes as having an emphasis on human value

which was compatible with the humanistic nature of western social work:

I feel that in the planned economy era, there may be some conflicts. However, the present market economic conditions, under the background of global economy, are compatible because our government is gradually changing itself, gradually moving towards humanization, human centred. It has gradually borrowed the western experiences in resolving social conflicts to handle China’s social problems. (L4)

Nevertheless, respondents had numerous concerns about the way in which the

liberal and humanistic nature of social work could work harmoniously with existing

political ideology and practice. Intertwined with traditional Chinese culture, the

dominant political ideology has a strong tendency towards centralized control. The

government officials tend to have an omnipresent power in determining people’s

lives. Many wonder, under the tight control of government, how much freedom they

will have to help people:

China does not yet have a free political environment, which is a crucial factor. … Without a general sense of social mass participation and of the need to fight for one’s right, the development of social work is quite difficult. For social work is to encourage people to actively participate in their community, and through their own effort and the fight for social resources, they can change their existing conditions. (X3)

Respondents believed that social work as a form of helping that requires a certain

level of autonomy was not compatible with centralized political control in China. As

Z4 noted: ‘To me, social work is grounded in the society. … We have to obey

government law and regulations too, but if we rely too much on government, our

hands are tied in many aspects’. In brief, the respondents had an optimistic view of

the recent policy changes which tended to put more emphasis on human value but

were pessimistic about the tight political control of the regime which had historically

cautioned against people’s freedom, a central principle and value of western social

work.

(iv) Incorporation of unique aspects of Chinese culture

When asked how cultural incompatibility issues might be resolved, the respondents

agreed that indigenization was needed:

[Social work] has to correspond to the mainstream Chinese cultural tradition. I think any new discipline to be adopted in China has to go through a bentuhuade (literally means indigenization) process because our traditional Chinese culture is, in fact, far too persistent. It’s been five, six thousand years. It’s impossible for us to just let go of so many thousand years of our traditional culture so easily because of the arrival of a foreign discipline. (L3)

One of the most commonly agreed cultural transformations of this imported social

work—a Judeo–Christian based liberal humanistic helping profession—was its

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incorporation of ‘familism’, a fundamental component of both high and low Chinese

cultural practices. Unlike western social work, almost all of the respondents, in one

way or another, expressed the view that social work in China must be grounded in

the familial nature of Chinese culture:

Because of the strong emphasis on family in Chinese culture, particularly in this aspect, particularly the significant role of family in some fundamental contra- dictions, the role of family will certainly become a characteristic feature and be reflected in the development of Chinese social work. In other words, it is possible that social work in China is not based on individual as a unit but rather on the family. I feel that in terms of management, it … in the actual implementation process, it will have a much better effect. Practising social work from the point of view of the individual as a unit may not be as effective as using family as a unit. (L8)

In addition, all agreed that cultural transformation has to fit the dominant

ideology in China. Politically, given the existing political and economic conditions,

social work in China must rely on the government. Most respondents were quite

realistic. They agreed that instead of competing with these existing indigenous

organizations, at least for the time being, social work in China must yitu (rely on)

these organizations and the government:

… but now there’s no way, so many responsibilities are undertaken by the government. That’s why you need to have the support of the government and then integrate slowly. Take, for example, women’s work is supposed to be carried out by social workers, but now government has set up Women’s Federation [a government operated non-governmental organization (GONGO)] to do social work. But if Women’s Federation is to be cancelled, it is not possible. This is why you have to rely on Women’s Federation to solve problems which are encountered by women such as family violence, inequity of property distribution due to divorce. (Z2)

However, many saw the cultural transformation as a two-way process. They hoped

that this newly imported social work would gradually transform the bentude (literally

means indigenous) practices of these existing organizations:

To them [government officials], the influx of western culture is a challenge and a test, but changes need to be carried out step by step, that is, to make this system [existing government departments and GONGOs] an embracing one in order to enable the western stuff to be incorporated into these systems. (X6)

3. Future Social Work in China

Many of these graduating student respondents found the future of social work in

China too remote from their immediate personal career interests. As mentioned

previously, few would look for jobs that were related to social work. Although most

of them were disenchanted with the virtually non-existent social work job market and

most believed that social work’s development in China would not be simple and

straight forward, they saw a promising future for social work as a measure to tackle

538 M. Chung Yan et al.

the social ills caused by economic reform; in other words, they believed that the

fallout from future economic development would provide opportunities for the

social work profession:

Social work in China is developing very fast now; the development process of social work is just coinciding with the rising economic period of China. Along with the economic development, the development of social work in China will be getting better and better. People’s knowledge level also keeps rising and ideas continue to be renewed. Social work will certainly be getting better and better. (Y5)

Among the respondents, there was strong agreement that social work can play

multifaceted roles that would be beneficial to society. These roles include counsellor

for individuals and families, organizer in communities, poverty relief worker for the

homeless, panhandlers and/or rural peasants, just to name a few. These students are

hopeful that one day in China social workers would be found not only in the urban

but also in rural areas; not only in the community and government departments but

also in schools, hospitals, correctional facilities, senior homes, and new NGOs.

As one student noted, the public has already started paying attention to the

multiple roles that social work can play in various aspects of Chinese society.

Say for example … the China Central Television Station has once in its ‘‘Focus Interview’’ programme introduced some new occupations which included social work. In the programme, they said social work could contribute greatly to the communities, the hospitals and helping homeless panhandlers. They also reported some social work practice activities. For example, they mentioned how social work could be practised in hospitals. (L7)

Respondents were hopeful that when more Chinese people realized the benefits of

social work, they would accept it, especially given major reform in China aimed at the

construction of a harmonious society and the massive structural changes in Chinese

society which would create demand for professional social workers’ services:

… social work’s development will become faster and faster, and its scope bigger and bigger. I think in the next couple of years, a sense of general awareness will be formed—whenever the word ‘‘social work’’ is mentioned, everyone knows what social work is about, what it does; knows the kind of service, the kind of notion and the kind of value system it is. (Y1)

Many respondents believed that a major obstacle to social work’s development in

China would be lack of government support. Without government support,

hundreds of social work graduates, like themselves, would be out of work:

The most urgent problem is that students of over 200 universities in China are going to graduate and enter the society, but our efforts will have been wasted as many social work students probably will have to find jobs in other areas. Isn’t this loss of professional students to other areas a waste of resources? (Z3)

They hoped that the government would soon introduce institutional changes and

not only classify social work as an occupation but also recognize its professional

status by introducing a registration system. In addition, promotion of the profession

was important. They also hoped that the government would take the lead in

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promoting social work. They firmly believed that when more people came to know

about what social work was, they would accept this emerging profession as a new

social measure of helping people to resolve their problems:

To raise the recognition status of social work, the government has to support and introduce it to various units and make them understand what social work is about. Various enterprising units will get to know social work more and more. Not only will enterprise units understand more and more about what social work is, business units as well as other units will too. Wait till some units which need employees have completely understood what social work is about and when they feel the need, they will start seeking help from social workers. (X4)

To conclude, the stories of these 32 graduating students indicate that they have

gone through a rough process in the last three or four years. Perhaps their roller

coaster experience may also reflect the struggle of the development of social work in

China both in school and in the society at large. In their opinion, the cultural

compatibility of social work with Chinese culture was not a black and white issue,

particularly when cultures in China were themselves incoherent and changing.

However, they did agree that social work in China must have its own characteristics.

One of these characteristics is the cultural adaptation of western social work. In

addition, social work in China, as they saw it, should be contextually grounded in the

contemporary Chinese society which was generally recognized as highly politically

controlled. This is particularly important when the support of the government is so

critical to social work’s development in China. In their opinion, without the

government support, even with its great potential, social work would have a hard

time flourishing.

Conclusion

This exploratory study of graduating social work students from a city in China

provides a ‘snapshot’ of the perspective of a particular group of students. Given the

small-scale nature of the study, these findings cannot be generalized to the wider

population of social work students or graduates in China. Nevertheless, given the lack

of empirical information on social work’s development in China, the perspectives of

these 32 students provide some, albeit not generalizable, understanding of the current

situation and concerns about social work’s development in China. The speed of social

work education’s development in China is almost beyond comprehension. However,

as found in this study, there is another story to be told about the ‘roller coaster

experience’ of students, the majority of whom were assigned to the social work

programme without their consent and without any prior knowledge and under-

standing of what social work was about. As Yan and Cheung (2006) observed, this

phenomenon is largely due to higher education reform which is massively expanding

higher education but limiting the expansion to several selected ‘new’ disciplines,

social work being one of the chosen few.

The sudden expansion of social work education has led to numerous problems,

such as a lack of professionally qualified social work academics (see Table 1), teaching

540 M. Chung Yan et al.

materials, and field placements as documented in the literature. However, despite all

of these difficulties, social work educators in China, at least as reported by these 32

students, have achieved a great deal of success in nurturing a new generation of social

work trained personnel. The experiences of these students suggest that, in the end,

although this unwilling choice might not offer them an immediate and prosperous

career, most of them believed that they had gone through a very meaningful training

which would be useful to them personally regardless of what they were going to do in

the future. Also, as indicated in the findings, most of them also recognized the need

for and usefulness of social work for China. With this seed firmly planted, there is a

good reason to believe that social work in China will gradually flourish.

Nonetheless, to many of these students social work remains a ‘virtual occupation’.

The social work that they have learnt so far is an intellectual construction of their

teachers who themselves mostly have no social work training and experience. An

indigenized Chinese social work model is still far from being realized. As reflected in

the literature, cultural compatibility is a continuing concern for those pursuing the

indigenization of social work in China (e.g. Yan, 1998; Tsang and Yan, 2001; Yuen-

Tsang, 2002; Yip, 2007). However, thus far, no concrete proposal has been offered.

Learned from their teachers, most students interviewed envisioned that social work in

China should match the Zhongguo guoqing (which roughly means the unique

conditions of China), including its rich culture. Despite its simplicity, the students of

this study offered a particular perspective which might, at least, point to a first step in

the cultural indigenization of social work in China. To them, social work in China, at

least in the near future, must reconcile with ‘familism’—a cultural emphasis on the

importance of family—which is deeply embedded in Chinese culture.

Furthermore, the ‘possibility’ of social work in China is limited by the complete

absence of social work jobs in China which most of these students found most

disappointing. Ironically, so far the development of social work has been confined to

within higher education as an academic discipline. As a field of practice, social work

is largely under-developed in China. Like their teachers, these students also see that

the future development of social work in China lies in the hands of the government.

In other words, the raison d’être of social work in China cannot be detached from its

social assignment—a social safety valve to ensure social stability and economic

prosperity. If this is true, then it is almost expected that social work in China has a

very important political responsibility. Therefore, one of the so-called Chinese

characteristics of social work in China, as most students perceived, is a high level of

state stewardship.

Indeed, in December 2006, the China Communist Party issued a resolution to

create a critical mass of social workers as part of the national effort to build a

harmonious society in China. This resolution has led to a national system of social

work registration under the leadership of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. As announced

by the Deputy Minister, it is expected that a team of more than 100,000 registered

social workers at three different levels—advanced, intermediate and junior—will be

created in five years (see http://www.mca.gov.cn/sw/fugle_show6.asp). Yet, to this

group of students this news might have come too late. Nevertheless, this development

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has offered new hope and raised the morale of social work educators and students in

China, although it is not known how registration would directly affect the job

market.

To conclude, the speed and scale of social work’s development in China is perhaps

the fastest and largest in the world since the inception of social work in the Anglo–

American world a century ago. It has drawn increasing attention from the

international social work community since social work in China has the potential

to be larger than the whole profession of social work outside China! Certainly, some

experiences in China, be they good or bad, are worth learning about. This study offers

some evidence of current developments in China from the students’—as yet

neglected—perspective. To understand this phenomenal development more fully,

further research is needed.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Professor Mel Gray for her comments and suggestions for

this paper.

Notes

[1] To prevent losing the original meaning, some key Chinese terms are used in this paper and the

closest English interpretation is provided in parentheses.

[2] We use the term western only to simplify the discussion. The authors would like to

acknowledge that both conceptually and empirically, there are many ways of practising social

work and diverse discourses of what social work is in developed countries.

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Appendix: Interview Guide

1. Why did you decide to study social work?

2. Please tell me how your teachers describe social work.

a. Please also tell me given what you are taught, how you will define social work.

3. From what you know about social work, in what areas and how, you think, social

work can contribute to the Chinese society.

4. Many people have said that social work is a western construct. Please tell me how

you understand social work within the Chinese context.

a. Do you think the social work values you learned in class are compatible with your

understanding of Chinese culture and the prevailing political ideologies in China? If

yes, how? If no, how incompatible and how will you deal with this incompatibility?

5. Please tell me, from your perspective as a social work student, what are the major

problems of the development of social work in China?

6. What will you foresee for the future of social work in China?

7. What will you foresee for your own future as a social work student?

8. Please name three major obstacles that you think are critical to social work

development in China. Why these three?

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