The intention of this article is to present a critique of the fundamen
tal conceptualization found in traditional social work discourse. It a
rgues that social work is a social construct and that the meaning of s
ocial work and one of its key concepts, namely, social functioning, sh
ould therefore be understood in its context. With this notion, the art
icle discusses how western. culture contains three inherent deficienci
es in this concept and how we can interpret these deficiencies differe
ntly under traditional Chinese culture. Finally, it highlights some im
plications of developing social work in mainland China in view of its
existing cultural development.