Society

Red culture used in mental therapy

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-01-06 15:07

In this January 13, 2010 file photo, patients take morning exercise at a mental rehabilitation hospital in Southwest China's Chongqing. The portrait in the backgroud is the revolutionary comrade Lei Feng, who was posthumously lionized in a national campaign as the selfless model soldier whole-heartedly devoted to the Party, Chairman Mao Zedong, and the Chinese people. [Photo/Xinhua]

A mental rehabilitation hospital in Southwest China's Chongqing seeks to help patients recover through red culture, media reported.

At a branch clinic of the Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital, icons of Chinese revolutionary red culture are just too ubiquitous to ignore. According to the newspaper Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, the mental clinic's corridor is decked with old black-and-white photos of Chairman Mao Zedong amiably greeting an enthusiastic crowd of revolutionary masses. 

Not far away in the clinic yard stands a portrait of the revolutionary comrade Lei Feng, who was posthumously lionized in a national campaign as the selfless model soldier whole-heartedly devoted to the Party, Chairman Mao and the Chinese people.

Besides that, dozens of stills of revolutionary operas decorate the patients' living rooms. During the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), only the revolutionized new "model operas" were allowed on stages, gaining dominance that later became an emblem of that decade.

A worker at the clinic, surnamed Tan, said that the tactics of using red culture was mainly aimed at "boosting the patients' spirits, keeping them upbeat and raising their confidence of recovery." 

He added that the combined treatment of both medicine therapy and red culture campaign proved to have "more evident curative effects" than using medicine alone.

A photo on the clinic's website shows a sign that reads "the Disneyland of mental rehabilitation".