Love in the Time of Erosion

Recent deaths of family members brought me back to their hometown, Tongchuan, tiny city located on the Loess Plateau in northwest China. The rich but easily erodible soil results in harsh living conditions and unhealthy lifestyles. High blood pressure and cerebrovascular disease run in my maternal family and I’m the youngest person in this lineage. During the 2020 pandemic, I met my lover and was struck again by the fragility of life, as well as the fragility of love—the symptoms of love are the same as those of soil erosion and psychological erosion. We shape our environments, just as much as they shape us. This film takes the form of a love letter that I wrote to my lover during quarantine.