Chinese Symbol For Love

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There are quite a few Chinese writing symbols that represent good fortune, blessings and happiness in life. Love is one of them.

Ai -- Love

Love is pronounced as Ai in pinyin, a Chinese pronunciation system. It sounds like the English word "I" or "eye". But in the traditional Chinese writing, the character love has a heart in the middle shown as below.

The part under the red heart is an informal way of writing "friend". It may means that lovers should be wholehearted and like friends. This certainly is part of the secrets for having a long lasting relationship.

Chinese Symbol For Love

However, the simplified form of Ai is written without the heart (see below) but only a friend (the red part) in its place. Anh. Should we love with a heart or should we love only like friends?

Interesting, isn't it? We may go on about this topic, but let us save it for now and talk a little bit more about the two forms of Chinese writing.

Simplified Chinese characters are mainly used in mainland China. The Chinese government initiated the character-simplifying move after the 1950s. It has some merit because Chinese characters have lots of strokes, therefore making writing complicated. The simplified form has fewer strokes, thus, are easier to write.

However, many Chinese people prefer the traditional ways because they want to keep the cultural traditions. The traditional characters are still in use in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other Chinese communities that were established before the 1980s.

Chinese calligraphy artists both in China and other areas prefer to write in traditional ways for their classic and artistic value. They simply look better, are more expressive and allow more space for creativity when there are more strokes.