The transformation of everyday social experience: What a mental and socialhealth perspective reveals about Chinese communities under global and local change

Chinese communities in East Asia are undergoing great economic and social c hange. The result includes material prosperity but also worsening mental an d social health indices. Epidemiological studies clarify the magnitude of t hese problems and the particular vulnerability of women and the elderly. Et hnographic studies indicate that moral experience is also changing, and tha t with it subjectivity is being altered in ways that are of concern. And ye t it is not clear, in historical perspective, how to assess these changes w hen they are compared to the extraordinarily difficult experiences of the C hinese over most of the Century.