Behind the Story
What is the Red Thread?

When I was a kid, my mom told me about the God of Love who writes names of people intended for each other in his Big Book of Lovers. He ties a piece of red string connecting the ankles of babies destined to be paired. Though the babies might grow up far apart, the unseen red string eventually brings them together.

Once I became attuned to red threads, I saw them everywhere. Not only in my mom's version, which explains both arranged marriages and truly romantic love matches, but also among Buddhists for whom red threads signify sexuality and earthly attachment, and also for people who adopt Chinese girls and feel that their destinies are intertwined by invisible red threads as well.

You'll see red threads tying pink bakery boxes together, in woven charms around the house, as knotted car charms dangling from rear view mirrors, and around necks and wrists. They're very Asian. Red threads are everywhere -- so commonplace and yet so filled with signification, ready to be given new meanings.

        -- Cynthia Liu