Peng Kaiping always wears a smile during his interviews. As the dean of the psychology department in Tsinghua University, he is considered a maverick in his field because of his unconventional approach to mental issues.

He helped rebuild Tsinghua's psychology department after returning to China from the University of California, Berkley, in 2008. Psychology studies had been missing from the leading Chinese university since 1952.

"Happiness is more than emotion. It is a rigorous science and science tells us everyone is entitled to be happy. The only thing needed is to find the right way," Peng says, as he prepares for his keynote speech at the UN headquarters in New York on March 20, on the occasion of the International Day of Happiness.

The study of positive psychology only began to gain popularity in the United States in the late 1990s.

Meanwhile, many Chinese who were busy absorbing big changes in their lives, which China's fast economic development brought, didn't have the time to take issues such as anxiety seriously. The 53-year-old professor, who is an advocate of positive psychology, attracted public attention to the subject by releasing a "China happiness map" last year.

Data from 300 Chinese cities, collected over social media, was used by Peng and his team to create the ranking of China's "happiest cities".

According to the map, the five happiest cities in China are Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Chuzhou in Anhui province, Yuxi in Yunnan province, Yingtan in Jiangxi province, and Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. Beijing and Shanghai failed to crack the top 50.

About 200 million posts were collected from Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo to reflect elements of happiness in them.

More than 1,200 indices were introduced to the research, which made US author Timothy Beneke describe Peng's project as "the largest data set in the history of psychology and probably the history of science".

Many people might have seen the approach - based on data analysis, rather than questionnaire surveying - as fresh, but some doubt whether subjective feelings are measurable.

"Subjective feelings only compose one part of indices. Individual fulfillment, engagement to community, relationship with surrounding people and ideals all determine our judgment to say whether a person is happy or not," Peng says.

He adds that while the research, based on social media inputs, isn't representative of the entire Chinese society, it shows that the country's rising middle class is the most active social group that is engaging in public discussions constantly.

A laboratory equipped with gadgets "measuring" students' happiness will be opened later this year at Tsinghua, where wearable devices, virtual experience room and other tools and techniques will be used to analyze people's psychology.

Peng, however, cautions that in spite of such exciting methods, basic education remains at the heart of spreading joy in society.

A training program for teachers called "garden of happiness" was launched nationwide by his team in 2012, when they sought to introduce "positive education" in the curricula of elementary and high schools.

"Happiness education isn't good if explained in abstract theories. It needs to be made easy for students to understand," he says, adding that an international positive education network of six countries including China will soon be established.

Positive psychology courses have been opened in the country's developed areas including in Beijing, and the provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong.

Peng is keen to make the subject available to the country's "left-behind" children, a large number whose parents have migrated to cities for jobs, leaving the children in the care of relatives, mostly in rural areas.

But such children lack access to the project at present.

Tsinghua's psychology department has established a fund to support creative ideas that promote happiness education in China. More than 300 plans have been received so far.

A list of the chosen candidates or projects will be released during the third China International Conference on Positive Psychology in July.

"We've got some wonderful ideas, but China's situation is so diverse, and criteria for happiness in different areas greatly varies," he says. "We can't promote one example nationwide."

When the economy grows, Peng considers it natural for the society to emphasize individual achievements and nurture egoism. However, people should better review their paths leading to achievement in more detached ways.

"Traditional Chinese culture cares more for collectivism, and people always want to compare with others. That may be an obstacle for us to regularly feel happy," he says.

The good thing is that China's traditional dialectical thinking allows people to emphasis consciousness, honesty and social harmony, Peng adds.

wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn

Peng Kaiping, dean of the psychology department in Tsinghua University, is a leading researcher of positive psychology and an active advocate of happiness education. Provided To China Daily

(China Daily USA 03/23/2015 page8)