Bridges in the Context of Chinese Culture: A Perspective of Analytical Psychology

Bridges in the Context of Chinese Culture: A Perspective of Analytical Psychology

The natural construction of a “Bridge” contains profound social and cultural connotations. Regardless of the era, it is fully reflected in the “bridge image” created by literary and artistic works. Images of a bridge are the reflection of the times and an alternative witness to history. Although the “bridge” has a collective meaning and function, individual bridges can also have different meanings. The bridge is a product of conforming to nature, embodying the philosophy of the unity of man and nature in Chinese culture. The symbol of the bridge can be seen in naturally in nature and human-made bridges that imitate these structures to further develop the shape, strength, and function of the bridge. (Wang, 2013, p.232). The bridge as a symbol of the unity of heaven and man in Chinese traditional culture has three meanings: one, human beings are born from heaven and earth, two, the “heaven way” and “humanity” are similar and unified, and three, the “heaven way” and human nature are integrated (Zhu, 2015, p.45). According to analytical psychology, the psyche’s function and energy stems from the psyche’s archetype. The psyche’s archetype comes from symbolic language and is expressed through emotion. Because the bridge archetype express the psyche’s inner spiritual development, this archetype often evokes a transcendental integration in the human’s psyche. This paper also focuses on the bridge in the different clinic cases of Sandplay. It will also examine the impact of bridge on the symbol of the bridge on the psyche.