What is the Chinese ‘red thread’ that ties fated lovers together?
A red thread or line that connects soul mates is a belief in Chinese mythology that has been retold across East Asia and in Western fiction
In the Western world, one meaning of “red line” is a boundary that should not be crossed. In the East, there is a completely different understanding of the “red line” that refers to something much more tender.
“The invisible thread theory” or the “red line” is an ancient East Asian belief that so-called soul mates, or those fated to be each other’s true love, are tied together with an invisible crimson cord.
The Qixi festival (also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day), which falls on August 29 this year, has roots in the concept. It is a time when superstitious lovers in East Asia leave it to the heavens to find their life partners.
The notion was revived and reimagined in July, when S Line, a South Korean fantasy thriller miniseries, visualised a glowing red line, only seen by a chosen few, which linked people who had had sexual relations with one another.
In Chinese mythology, this magical thread is one of love, bound around two people’s ankles by the god of marriage. Yue Lao – full name Yue Xia Laoren, “the old man under the moon” – does this to prevent lovers from getting lost or straying too far from one another.
Yue Lao is typically represented as a smiling, hanfu-clad old man with long white hair and beard, a logbook in his left hand and a staff in his right, and silken red threads draped over his arms.