This chapter advances a psychocultural paradigm of international relations based on Francis L. K. Hsu’s comparative theory of literate civilizations. It first critiques the cultural turn in constructivist IR theory, highlighting its neglect of cultural se-lection. It then reviews Chinese efforts to build indigenous IR theories, arguing that true innovation requires assumptions independent from Western paradigms. Drawing on Hsu’s framework, the chapter proposes that international relations are projections of interpersonal relations shaped by kinship structures, leading to a ty-pology of civilizational actors: kinship-state (China), nation-state (the West), ie-moto-state (Japan), and caste-state (India). It distinguishes the psychocultural ap-proach as a meso-level framework connecting cultural models with affective structures shared by social members. Finally, it introduces Shang Huipeng’s psy-choculturology as a formalized theory of inter-state relations, using homological mapping between family and state. This approach provides an ontologically grounded alternative to Western system theories by explaining international be-havior through enduring civilizational affective patterns.