Culture as a rehab tool
Print Edition
YANG swore that he could never forgive his father after he told the police that he was abusing drugs.
“I hated my father so much when he told the police and had me sent to rehab,” the high-school graduate said. It was not until sometime later, after some extensive reading, that the boy came to understand his father’s decision.
Yang is one of 500 inmates at Chongqing Juvenile Correction Institute, which offers rehabilitation programs based on Chinese culture. The institute offers Taiji and lessons on Chinese classics, such as “The Three-Character Classic,” “The Standards for Students” and “Yiching” (the Book of Changes).
“Most of our reading material concerns filial piety, honesty, peace and family dynamics,” said Liu Xiaojun, a director at the institute.
“Most young people can be weaned off drugs in three months. Then starts the biggest task — helping them stay sober. We use Chinese traditions and culture to help them reassess the meaning of life, accept emotional support, and readjust into society after rehab,” he said.
China has more than two million registered drug users, 62 percent of them aged under 35. Chongqing had 81,294 registered drug users by the end of 2015, the youngest being 14 years old.
Yang was an A-student in high school until he met a group of people who were involved in loan sharking and drug trafficking.
“Though I may never be the ideal, obedient child written about in Chinese classics, I now know how wrong it was for me to have disobeyed my parents in the ways that I did,” said Yang. “After a few months, I understood my father’s decision — it was for my own good.”
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