Creativity in Chinese Contexts

Examining creativity in Chinese societies from both a personal and contextual standpoint, this ground-breaking book offers readers a unique insight into the Chinese mind. It provides a review of the nature, origins, and consequences of creativity, deriving from empirical evidence in the Chinese context. Specifically, the book unravels the conceptualization of creativity and its relationships with various demographic and dispositional factors in Chinese societies. The book proceeds to give readers an understanding of how creativity maintains reciprocal relationships with various forms of well-being. The content of the book brings together empirical evidence and theory grounded on Chinese societies to offer researchers and students a unique realistic view of the nature of creativity there. This book will be a must read for any researcher or practitioner interested in this fascinating topic.

Chau-kiu Cheung is Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. He has recently published books or articles concerning emerging adulthood, child abuse, resilience, character education, moral development, peer influence, and class mobility. His current research addresses issues of idolatry, violence, distress, career, and prosociality (email: ssjacky@cityu.edu.hk). Xiaodong Yue is Assistant Dean, School of Graduate Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Associate Professor, Department of Applied Social Studies at City University of Hong Kong. He earned his BA degree in English language and literature at Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute in 1982, his MA degree in education from Tufts University in 1987, and his Ed.D degree in psychology from Harvard University in 1993. He has taught psychology courses at Department of Educational Psychology of Chinese University of Hong Kong (1993-1996) and at the Department of Applied Social Sciences of City University of Hong Kong (1997-now). He has published widely on issues of creativity, humor, resilience, and adolescent idol worship in Chinese society. He is an adjunct professor of over 20 universities in China as well as an ad hoc reviewer of ten international journals of psychology and education around the world. He is also the founding chair of the Division of Counseling Psychology of Hong Kong Psychological Society. He has been invited to give keynote addresses at various conferences in China and around world (email: ssxdyue@cityu.edu.hk).

Preface Chapter 1. IntroductionChapter 2. Regional DifferencesChapter 3. Background, Personality, and Contextual Effects on CreativityChapter 4. Effects of Contextual Creativity and Other Contextual FactorsChapter 5. Relationships between Creativity and Other Dispositions and FeelingsChapter 6. Regional Difference in Creator IdentificationChapter 7. ConclusionReferenceIndex