Li Xintian (; February 1924 – 2 May 2019) was a Chinese psychologist. He was considered a founder of medical psychology and

neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology often focus on how injuries or illnesses of t ...

in China. He served as chair of medical psychology at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and as an adjunct professor at Peking Union Medical College, China Medical University, and

Peking University Health Science Center Peking University Health Science Center is the medical school of Peking University, which has 14 affiliated hospitals in Beijing, China. It was formerly the independent Beijing Medical University. History It was first established in 1902 as the ...

Early life

Li was born in February 1924 in Jiaxing,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

, Republic of China, with his ancestral home in Lingling,

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

. He was the only son of Li Da, a Marxist philosopher and co-founder of the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

, and his wife

Wang Huiwu Wang Huiwu (; May 189820 October 1993) was a social reformer, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) women's organizer (in the early years), as well as a proponent of women's feminism, emancipation. She ran the first Communist-sponsored journal which was ...

. His parents moved frequently, and he spent his childhood in various cities including

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...

Wuchang Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the ri ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. After the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

broke out in 1937, the Japanese occupied Beijing. Li's family became war refugees and fled across half of China to Guilin and later

Guiyang Guiyang (; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), historically rendered as Kweiyang, is the capital of Guizhou province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in the center of the province, situated on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, ...

, where his older sister fell ill and died in 1938. Li attended Tsinghua High School in Guiyang and graduated in February 1942.

Career

Li graduated from Xiangya Medical College in June 1948, and stayed on as a physician at the college. In 1958, he entered the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he conducted research in medical psychology under the supervision of . He later served as professor and chair of medical psychology at the institute. He was an adjunct professor at Peking Union Medical College from 1987 to 1990, at China Medical University from 1986 to 1991, and at

(formerly Beijing Medical College) from 1985 to 2000. His research on the coordination of

cerebral hemisphere The vertebrate cerebrum (brain) is formed by two cerebral hemispheres that are separated by a groove, the longitudinal fissure. The brain can thus be described as being divided into left and right cerebral hemispheres. Each of these hemispheres ...

s won multiple national and regional awards. His published works include the widely used reference book ''Medical Psychology''. He is considered a founder of medical psychology and

in China. Li died on 2 May 2019 at Anzhen Hospital in Beijing, at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Xintian 1924 births 2019 deaths Central South University alumni Academic staff of China Medical University (PRC) Chinese psychologists Neuropsychologists Academic staff of Peking Union Medical College Academic staff of Peking University Scientists from Jiaxing Second Sino-Japanese War refugees