Pan Shu.

About Pan Shu

Pan Shu was a Chinese psychologist. Born in Yixing, Jiangsu, he studied philosophy at Peking University from 1917 to 1920, before he traveled to the United States to attend Indiana University and the University of Chicago. Initially focused on education, he began studying psychology, achieving his doctorate in 1926. Upon his return to China, he became a professor at what would become Nanjing University and oversaw the formation of a unified psychology department. He became president of the university in 1951, before transferring alongside its psychology department to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Pan served as the first president of the reestablished Chinese Psychological Society and developed a theory of psychology influenced by Marxism. When psychological research was repressed during the Cultural Revolution, Pan continued it in secret. He was active in the reconstruction of the field during the late 1970s. He continued to serve as the president of the Chinese Psychological Society until 1984, when he became the society's honorary president. He continued to write until his death.