Yuan or yuanfen is a Buddhist-related Chinese con¬cept that means the predetermined principle that dictates a person's relationships and encounters, usually positive, such as the affinity among friends or lovers. In common usage the term can be defined as the "binding force" that links two persons together in any relationship. The concept of synchronicity from the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung can be seen as similar to yuanfen, which Chinese people also believe to be a universal force governing the happening of things to some people at some places. Yuanfen belongs to the family of concepts known in theology as determinism.
Unlike other Chinese social relations, which describe abstract, but easily noticeable, connections between people, nowadays, Chinese merely use this word poetically or to emphasize a meant-to-be relationship, and almost never in a serious business or legal situation.
