When Gong Wen graduated from the psychology department of a Chinese university more than a decade ago, it was hard for him to find a job.

"I had to explain again and again what I do and the difference between psychology and fortune-telling," Gong told China Youth Daily.

Few people believed in him at that time.

"Many of my classmates from the psychology department of Beijing Normal University changed their profession in order to get high salary jobs," Gong said.

Now Gong, who is head of the educational psychology research institute of the Beijing University Founder Group Corp., is surprised to find that psychology has become a popular choice for Chinese students.

According to Tuesday's China Youth Daily, more than 600 students competed for 80 places in the psychology department of the Beijing Normal University this year.

Another 400 students applied for the psychology department of the Peking University, an increase of 100 for the third consecutive year.

"Psychology is a luxury. People will only pay attention to it after they get enough food and clothing," said Gong.

Psychologists keep busy these days in China, solving people's mental problems, giving instructions to students, working in the human resources department of companies, doing market research and studying consumer psychology.

They even study the relationship between humans and machines. For instance, in automobile production, psychologists give advice on how to design the brake, meters and horn.

Che Hongsheng, a professor of psychology at the Beijing Normal University, said employment options have widened for psychology graduates since the end of the 1990s. The human resources departments of many companies are in need of psychology graduates.

When people's physical demands are met, they will seek psychological help. When the economy grows, enterprises need to increase efficiency and give full play to the role of each employee with the help of psychology, said Che.

Psychoanalysis was introduced into China at the beginning of the 20th century and its use spread across the country after 1980.

China now has more than 10,000 psychologists working in research institutions, education, medicine and other fields to serve 16 million people suffering mental disorders, according to an earlier report of China Daily.

The country has listed psychology as one of six priorities for funding and is planning to draft a national law to protect people with mental illness and improve mental health services, according to the newspaper.

A World Health Organization report show that about 1.3 billion people around the world have psychological problems. And psychological illness has become one of the major health problems plaguing the Chinese people.

However, only a small number of sufferers in China receive psychological treatment at present.

Experts warn that the cost for curing psychological illness may far exceed that for many other ailments.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2003)