Yanwen’s blog

Yesterday I read an article re-posted on facebook, "Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Adult Mental Health Outcomes," JAMA Psychiatry, March 6, 2024.

They started the research with this question: Are ACEs associated with poor mental health in adulthood after adjustment for familial confounding due to shared genetic and environmental factors?" They ended with this expected finding: yes.

Their findings align with a large body of research in the field of psychology and public health and also with the theory first formulated by Sigmund Freud. In fact, plenty of studies have demonstrated fully the profound impact that ACEs can have on people's mental health throughout their lives.

Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, first proposed that early childhood experiences, particularly interactions with parents or caregivers, could profoundly influence personality development and psychological well-being. 

Beyond ACEs, Freud's understanding of childhood experiences includes a broad range of factors, such as parental relationships, attachment patterns, or lack of attachment, and unresolved conflicts.

Freud suggested that children are very vulnerable and highly impressionable, and sensitive to their surroundings. Subconsciously there's no forget-and-forgive. All will stay. Even if a person consciously forgets an event, the underlying emotions and memories associated with it persist. The unresolved conflicts or repressed memories from childhood could continue to influence individuals subconsciously, impacting their psychological functioning and behavior in adulthood.

Hopefully all parents are taught about the importance of a happy childhood for the mental and psychological health 心灵健康(xīn líng jiàn kāng) of their children in their lifetime.

Recently I re-read The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time by Will Durant. The book is a collection of articles like "Ten Greatest Thinkers," "Ten Greatest Poets," "The 100 best books for an education." 

While sharing his lists of the greatest, he also encouraged readers to form their own list in "The Country of the Mind," a realm where the heroes of our species dwell.

His list of 10 greatest thinkers includes Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Copernicus, Bacon, Newton, Voltaire, Kant and Darwin. One criterion for his choice of greatest thinkers is its influence on the minds of men and women.

Number one: Confucius, who was a moral philosopher, not a preacher in religious faith. His pursuit of noble act is based on secular motive rather than supernatural considerations. He far more resembled Socrates than Jesus. 

Will Durant expressed great admiration for Chinese civilization. He envisioned, prior to China's implementation of reform and an open-door policy, a future where China's huge productive capabilities once liberated, equipped with its rich spiritual and cultural heritage, would create remarkable wealth. Durant foresaw the potential for China to surpass the United States in economic prowess.

As a historian, Durant provided a perspective that appreciates the vast historical and cultural richness of Chinese civilization. Perhaps he also foresaw a historical pattern in a large time frame.

There are so much for us to learn in the long river of history 历史长河(Lì shǐ cháng hé).

Sunday evening, my Korean student sounded stressful and worried when she told me the news of her husband losing his job. The headquarter of the company is in London. They close the stores in the United States and Canada.

She told me, "Now I have to support the whole family. It’s a huge burden on me. We have to cut cost at every corner." She told me jobs in Korean companies are very very secure, but not in American companies.

My Korean student's experience captures a significant concern that we all share as the first generation of immigrants: a sense of insecurity coming from lack of support from our extended family in the new country and the fear of unexpected hardships like job loss or health loss.

I told her, many Americans become homeless once they lose their jobs and incomes. Here in America we have to create our own safety net by saving up while we have, so we can survive at least a year without any income.

In addition, if you are looking for something that you can count on in America, that's your skills. I can't overemphasize enough the value of skills and lifetime learning as the reliable asset in America, especially relevant in today's ever-changing economic landscape.

I remember this is from Mao Zedong’s quotations: 自力更生，艰苦奋斗（Zì lì gēng shēng, jiān kǔ fèn dòu), self-reliance and hard work especially in times like this.

This weekend my sister's son stayed with his parents. His girlfriend traveled out of town with her parents. Sunday morning he drove us to see his newly remodeled apartment. It looks new, modern and spacious.

While I was with the young man, I inquired about his work and wedding plan. He said, our parents give us money for a formal wedding ceremony, but we don’t want to give it to some wedding preparation agent or on entertaining friends and relatives. The cost can run up to 20 to 40 thousand yuan. We’d rather spend it on ourselves, like doing some traveling abroad, etc.

While I applaud him for his practical approach and his courage to spend money on something more meaningful to them than conforming societal expectations, I realize a growing trend among people of their generation who prioritize life's experiences over traditions and material possessions. My son and his wife got married without a wedding, so did his sister-in-law.

A few days ago an old classmate of mine told me, her son spending time on learning, body-building, and traveling. He is representing a positive evolution towards valuing personal fulfillment and enrichment over traditional markers of success in life.

I imagine that Mao Zedong might view this emphasis on personal fulfillment over meeting societal obligations as being individualistic 个人主义 (Gè rén zhǔ yì). Or perhaps Mao could evolve over time when he saw the changing attitudes towards individualism in China today.

It is interesting to do some inward-looking and self-referential homework, like meta-blogging on my own blog.

I share my daily output with a limited number of friends and family members at these social media sites: Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Telegram, and WeChat. Since I have a tiny circle of friends wherever I turn, I don't anticipate a large readership.

Occasionally, one article attracts an unusually high readership on the first day, like this one: “What did Mao Zedong leave behind for his family.” I guess it’s the effect of famous people. Nobody can beat him on that.

Along the same line of thinking, here's a quotation from Mao: "The world is yours and also ours, but in the final analysis it is yours. You young people are full of vitality and are in your prime. You are like the sun at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. You shoulder the hope of humankind." 

True if the young learn the wisdom from the old. As it is, it's not happening now. The stereotype of the young is they are young and stupid, most of the time.

I think the part that Mao admired most in the young is their 朝气蓬勃 (zhāo qì péng bó), energetic and full of vitality.

By the way, to keep my vitality, I have been jogging with my youngest sister since I got back to Beijing. I encouraged her to jog everyday. After she left for Yunnan yesterday, I went out all by myself today. I imagine she will do the same after I leave Beijing.