Carl Rogers: The China Diary

Jeffrey H.D. Cornelius-White, PsyD, LPC is Professor of Counseling and doctoral faculty for the Cooperative EdD Program in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis University of Missouri-Columbia, USA. He is also Co-Editor of Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, a former chair of the board of the World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling and editor of other journals. He is author or editor of about 100 publications, including Carl Rogers' China Diary (PCCS), two interdisciplinary handbooks on the person-centered approach (Springer), and Person-Centered Approaches for Counselors (Sage). His work usually concerns person-centred and social justice issues in counseling psychology, and education.

I had always wondered what was in this diary. I now discover a young man who is passionate in so many different ways. He is passionate in his openness to new experience and in his desire to describe everything he sees with scrupulous attention to detail. He is passionate about the people he meets from many nations and cultures and is often astounded by their ability and integrity. He is passionate in his anger when he confronts social injustice and exploitation. Above all he is passionate about his Christianity and is determined to live it fully and without hypocrisy. In this diary we see Carl Rogers the idealist for whom, sadly, Christianity and the Christian Church were ultimately to prove wanting. If this had not been so the world might never have known client-centred therapy and the person-centred approach. God moves in a mysterious way - Brian Thorne, Co-founder, The Norwich Centre, Emeritus Professor of Counselling, University of East Anglia, Norwich