What Does Yuanfen Mean in Chinese Love? The Meaning of Fate and Romantic Connection

Guanlan | Contributing Columnist · ChinaMatch International Journal

Published by ChinaMatch International

• Fate may open a door. Whether two people walk through it together is a decision they must make for themselves.

• The extraordinary beauty of destiny is not necessarily found in a spectacular first meeting. It may be found in the quiet realization, years later, that two people have continued choosing one another.

• Fate may bring two hearts within reach of one another. Love is what they choose to create from that moment.

There are encounters in life that seem to arrive without explanation. Two people, born in different places, shaped by different experiences, and traveling along entirely separate paths, somehow find themselves standing at the same cro…

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The Chinese Idea of a Soul Mate: From Ancient Poetry to Modern Love

Guanlan | Contributing Columnist · ChinaMatch International Journal

Published by ChinaMatch International

There is an old Chinese feeling that is difficult to translate into a single English word.

It is the feeling of meeting someone who seems to understand the landscape of your heart before you have learned how to describe it yourself.

Perhaps it is a person who hears the sadness beneath your silence, recognizes the happiness in your eyes, or understands why a certain song, a certain season, or a distant moon can suddenly make you think of home.

In modern English, we might call such a person a soul mate.

But the Chinese imagination of a soul mate is older, quieter, and more intricate than the idea of finding “the one.”

It is woven through the ancient ideas of 知己 (zhiji), the person who truly knows you; 知音 (zhiyin), the one who…

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