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情 could be passion, emotion, feeling, so 有情 is not hard to understand, but what about 有义?Meaning, intention, interest?

我对你有情有义= I have a good feeling and an interest in you?

In Hong Kong singer Alan Tam Wing Lun's song titled 情义两心知, there are words "我有情盼你有义" and "你有情盼我有义" which obviously are the statement of lovers to each other, do they mean "I have shown my love for you and hope you love me too"?

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有情有义 is the idiomatic form of 有情义 (affectionate and loyal/ have affection and loyalty)

  • The term 情义 (affection and loyalty) mostly associates with friendship (it is a requirement in true friendship), but it can also refer to romantic love, (mainly in a committed love relationship, in which affection and loyalty is also a requirement)

  • The term 爱情 (love) refers to romantic love

"我有情盼你有义" and "你有情盼我有义"

我有[]盼你有[] should be understood as 我有[义]盼你有[情] --> 我(对你)有情义, 盼你(也对我)有情义

情义 here can describe friendship or romantic love, depend on the context. If it is a love song, we can presume it means the latter

In any case, it should be translated as " I have affection and loyalty for you, hope you have affection and loyalty for me too"

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我对你有情有义= I have a good feeling and an interest in you?

This translation can be considered correct if revising the sentence to 我对你有情意. "意" has the meaning of "wish", or "desire". Combined with "情", "情意", is one's affection towards another person in a love affair and wish (interest in) having a love-based relationship with that person.

"义" is interpreted as "always with reverence" in the dictionary but IMO, it is not quite correct.

If you like Chinese Wuxia stories/movies (武俠小說/電影), or contemporary movies that depict the gangster world, you will notice "义" is used quite often like 俠义, (有,重)講义氣, also 有情有义. In here, "义" describes a person who is passionately attached to another person, or the associates around him, or the association (幫派), for whom/which he would risk his own safety to keep them out of trouble without a second thought. A person posses 义 is often translated into "loyal" but not always.

Similar to the explanation above, in a love affair, 有义 simply means the person will always by the lover's side to take care of the lover, bear the responsibilities regardless of the situation, good or bad, surrounding them.

Note "情" is a feeling, it can easily change/vanish. But a person with "义", a trait, is not likely to change his nature suddenly. So, 有情有义 means "having affection and the willingness to stand with/next to you, or be there for you, always".

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"有情有义" is a four-character slang, the same as "有情义"(the second "有" only make the phrase more in line with language habits).

So, what does "情义" mean? Its meaning is "人情与义理". Then 我对你有情有义 means 我对你讲人情与义理.

人情 and 义理 both means 情谊, 人与人相互关切、爱护的感情. So in English, it should be:

I have feelings for you, care about you, and treat you sincerely.

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Baidu short version:

有情有义:指有感情,讲义气。

Baidu longer version:

情:对弱者的同情,对朋友的友情,对心爱的人的爱情,对亲人的亲情,悲天悯人之情。

情: sympathy for the feeble,
对朋友的友情,
friendship towards friends
对心爱的人的爱情,
love for lovers
对亲人的亲情,
affection for relatives
悲天悯人之情。
compassion.

义:讲义气,
义: loyalty
守信用,
trustworthiness
讲道义, 正义。
speaking righteously, justly

被人称赞为特别有情有义,
(If someone is) praised by people as especially "有情有义"
是指他很好,
this refers to a person who is very kind,
很看重感情,
who attaches importance to emotions
很讲义气。
who is very loyal.

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  • @r13 I also met with other similar expressions but with different choice of words, such as深情厚谊,虛情假意,深明大义 . Commented Jul 9, 2021 at 1:37

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