Every time I visit Lin's home village, one of the people I look forward to seeing most is her aunt. Communicating isn't easy because she speaks the local village dialect, and my Mandarin is still very limited. But somehow, we always find a way. She has one of the most generous, joyful spirits I've ever encountered- and an infectious laugh.

I asked Lin what her aunt's name is, and to my surprise, she doesn't know. Growing up, it was considered disrespectful to call your elders by their first names, so everyone simply called her Āyí ("Auntie"). Somewhere along the way, her actual name never came up.

So to us, she'll always be Āyí.