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It may be somewhat inappropriate, but I have to talk about this short story （在明孝陵乘涼 by 魏微）at a seminar:
I have been taught "我喜歡你", when said between people of opposite sexes, usually means a romantic kind of fondness. In this story it seems the girl likes her brother in a not so innocent kind of way. Is this clear to the brother, when she uses
炯，我很喜歡你呀！ ;
or is there enough room to interpret it as innocent fondness among siblings?
Offering a Taiwan speaker's perspective here:
我喜歡你 is (as I perceive) almost exclusively used as confession of romantic love. I believe 喜歡 becomes the conventional rendition of Japanese 好き(suki), which (I suppose, I don't know Japanese) is usually romantic if used with human beings as accusative.
To translate "I like you" (expressing purely positive intention without romantic love) I suggest "你很棒" or "我對你印象不錯" or something like that, avoiding unintended connotation.
"我很喜欢你" has the almost same usage with "I like you" in English, depending on the scenario, could be treated as "I love you" but again, it's rare.
In daily case, we(native Chinese) rarely use(or used?) this sentence because comparing to the western people, Chinese usually are regarded as a group people who are shy, barely express emotion orally.
But in this case, the author seems like depicture a little girl who has a crush on her brother. It's unethical but also natural considering their age. And it's far from incest since it's just an emotional activity.
Considering the age of the little girl, I think "I like you" can be called the family, not the expression of love.
Her brother's love is a kind of family love expression.
Because her brother is very good, so the little girl clear like his brother, but standing in the point of view, we generally only will this considered children don't understand the real men and women of love.
In other Chinese words, the expression of a deep affection is not a "love".
Also, in China, we express our love for men and women is“爱”not“喜欢”
The above answer, I hope to help you.
I totally disagree for what zhang just said, according to WIKIPEDIA, the simplified Chinese does not represent the meaning of the word at all.
"1952年，中国文字改革研究委员会编拟《常用汉字简化表草案》第一次稿，确定了“述而不作”的编选原则。但毛泽东看过后却很不满意，提出：“700个简体字还不够简，作简体字要多利用草体，找出简化规律，作出基本形体，有规律地进行简化。汉字的数量也必须大大减缩，一个字可以代替好几个字，只有从形体上和数量上同时精简，才算得上简化。”[1]"
What Mao wanted is that just simple. And after the China Civil War, people in China Mainland are suffering, they don't even have time to talk about 我愛你你愛我. The simplified Chinese was born after 文革, it does not contain any meaning "后来，中华人民共和国成立后，发展了简体汉字“爱”，下面是一个“友”字，也意味着我们认为的爱情需要从友情开始，互相帮助，还有互相付出。代表了两性关系是从友情发展到爱情的路径。
因为这个时期，中国更强调男女要有共同的方向与目标，然后在一起工作，彼此帮助的基础上，逐渐感受到对方的心，进而产生“爱情”"
You are just trying to convince people to accept the ugly word, changing the history.
And could Zhang, on my top, explain why 雞became鸡，難became难，準became准not淮，華became华？
关于繁体汉字“愛”，中间一个心字，上下是一个受字，意思是用自己的心，感受到对方的心。用法并不仅仅在爱情，也在亲情与更大的一种无私的爱，不求回报。 像上帝爱世人一样的意味。
后来，中华人民共和国成立后，发展了简体汉字“爱”，下面是一个“友”字，也意味着我们认为的爱情需要从友情开始，互相帮助，还有互相付出。代表了两性关系是从友情发展到爱情的路径。
因为这个时期，中国更强调男女要有共同的方向与目标，然后在一起工作，彼此帮助的基础上，逐渐感受到对方的心，进而产生“爱情”
这部小说的写作年代在于中华人民共和国时期，所以这个时候作者提到的“我喜欢你” 更多的是表达亲情，因为彼此之间没有共同的人生目标，仅仅是最开始的少女喜欢。
