Invincible yuanfen ?

In Chinese, the term yuan or yuanfen designates the predestined affinity a person can have for another entity, which might be another person, a place, or even an object. Yuanfen seems to be both the invisible cause and the relational consequence of a first meeting. This notion is a topos that is so...

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Main Author: Hélène Bloch
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative 2022-10-01
Series:Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/16752
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author Hélène Bloch
author_facet Hélène Bloch
author_sort Hélène Bloch
collection DOAJ
description In Chinese, the term yuan or yuanfen designates the predestined affinity a person can have for another entity, which might be another person, a place, or even an object. Yuanfen seems to be both the invisible cause and the relational consequence of a first meeting. This notion is a topos that is so common in love songs and unexpected meetings in everyday life that the range of situations in which it can play a part is often ignored, to the advantage of an instrumental use that aims to illustrate a uniquely Chinese way of considering social relations. Beginning with a critical overview of works on yuan and yuanfen, as well as ethnographic research conducted in Sichuan since 2016, this article will explore the different contexts in which this notion fits, in order to take into account the complexity of the registers that speakers handle and the pragmatic uses they can make of these terms.
format Article
id doaj-art-74d1ec297e584b5babd18e1fde9f797d
institution Kabale University
issn 2117-3869
language fra
publishDate 2022-10-01
publisher Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative
record_format Article
series Ateliers d'Anthropologie
spelling doaj-art-74d1ec297e584b5babd18e1fde9f797d2025-01-30T13:42:33ZfraLaboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie ComparativeAteliers d'Anthropologie2117-38692022-10-015210.4000/ateliers.16752Invincible yuanfen ?Hélène BlochIn Chinese, the term yuan or yuanfen designates the predestined affinity a person can have for another entity, which might be another person, a place, or even an object. Yuanfen seems to be both the invisible cause and the relational consequence of a first meeting. This notion is a topos that is so common in love songs and unexpected meetings in everyday life that the range of situations in which it can play a part is often ignored, to the advantage of an instrumental use that aims to illustrate a uniquely Chinese way of considering social relations. Beginning with a critical overview of works on yuan and yuanfen, as well as ethnographic research conducted in Sichuan since 2016, this article will explore the different contexts in which this notion fits, in order to take into account the complexity of the registers that speakers handle and the pragmatic uses they can make of these terms.https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/16752Chinainvisiblepragmaticmeetingdestiny
spellingShingle Hélène Bloch
Invincible yuanfen ?
Ateliers d'Anthropologie
China
invisible
pragmatic
meeting
destiny
title Invincible yuanfen ?
title_full Invincible yuanfen ?
title_fullStr Invincible yuanfen ?
title_full_unstemmed Invincible yuanfen ?
title_short Invincible yuanfen ?
title_sort invincible yuanfen
topic China
invisible
pragmatic
meeting
destiny
url https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/16752
work_keys_str_mv AT helenebloch invincibleyuanfen