一方面…另一方面【yì fāngmiàn … lìng yì fāngmiàn】

一方面…另一方面… sets out two sides of one matter – two reasons, two effects, two things someone is doing at once. The second clause often adds 也, 又 or 还.

Adding up, more often than contrasting

English "on the one hand… on the other" usually sets up a contrast. The Chinese pair is at least as often two points pulling the same way, as in the examples above. It can contrast too, when the two halves really are at odds.

Where the subject goes

When both halves share a subject, it goes once, before 一方面. 另 can be dropped in the second half: 一方面…一方面….

Mistakes

The two halves must be aspects of one thing. Two unrelated people or facts set side by side need a plain contrast instead.

• × 一方面我喜欢猫，另一方面我妹妹喜欢狗 → 我喜欢猫，我妹妹却喜欢狗