Also, for the moment, there are no rules to regulate the market. Despite such reservations, Xu says she is encouraged by the higher profile psychological problems are assuming in China. Even the People's Liberation Army has established a mental illness prevention and control centre, also in Nanjing. While more city-dwellers and their employers can afford professional advice, China's villagers lack both the access and the habit of seeking help for problems like the rocketing suicide rate, especially among women. China is responsible for more than 50 percent of female suicides worldwide, though it is home to only 21 percent of the world's women.
Many victims are peasant girls sold into marriage to abusive partners.
Recent surveys on the worsening state of China's mental health make the business prospects of centers like Eve look assured. A survey in February found that more than 20 percent of university students suffer various psychological problems. In a survey of pre-school children in the city of Tianjin last year, the ratio rose to one in three. Indulged by parents and grandparents, with no siblings against which to temper their behavior, the 'little emperors' of China's one child policy grow up ill prepared for the challenges of adult life. Copyright 2001 by United Press International.