after joining the 'tel quel group' founded by sollers, kristeva mostly worked on the politics of language and became an active member of the group. she trained in psychoanalysis, and earned her degree in 1979. in some ways, her work can be seen as trying to adapt a psychoanalytic approach to poststructuralist criticism. for example, her view of the subject, and its construction has some things in common with sigmund freud and lacan. however, kristeva rejects any understanding of the subject in a structuralist sense. instead, she describes the subject as always "in process" or "on trial". in this way, she contributes to the poststructuralist critique of essentialized structures, while preserving the teachings of psychoanalysis. she travelled to china in the 1970s and later wrote "about chinese women" (1977).