“When my mother says “I love you”, she never says it in Chinese (我爱你). In fact, the word 爱 (love) in Chinese sounds foreign even to her, a native Chinese speaker. My dad (who is Taiwanese and kept the traditional version of the Chinese language) says the word 爱 got ruined by the simplification of Chinese characters post communist revolution. They took out the heart, he says (愛 became 爱, the 心 was removed), which is why Chinese people can’t express love anymore. I don’t ask him why he never says it, in Chinese or English, even though his 愛 still has its 心.

My piece “爱没有心 (love has no heart)” explores Chinese diaspora who lack 爱 in their mother language. We’re forced to revert to English to verbally express our affection. I think it’s a little heartbreaking that a language so ancient, like Chinese, lacks a heavy enough term for the word love, a universal emotion.”