Chinese dream interpretation: Zhou Gong dream meanings
The Chinese dream tradition is thousands of years old. The best-known dream book, the Zhou Gong Jie Meng, is still consulted today. Many readings are surprisingly favourable and play on sounds: fish means abundance, water stands for wealth.
An ancient tradition
As early as the Shang dynasty, more than three thousand years ago, Chinese kings had their dreams interpreted. Oracle bones from that time carry questions about what a dream might mean. Dreaming counted as one of the ways in which heaven, the ancestors and the spirits spoke to people.
Philosophy later added a layer of its own. The Daoist thinker Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, and on waking asked himself: am I Zhuangzi who dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi? That question of what separates dream and reality is one of the best-known texts in Chinese philosophy.
The dream book of the Duke of Zhou
The best-known Chinese dream book is the Zhou Gong Jie Meng, the dream interpretation of the Duke of Zhou. The Duke of Zhou was a statesman of the eleventh century BCE admired by Confucius; in old age Confucius lamented that he had long not dreamt of the Duke of Zhou. The dream book bearing his name was compiled much later, but over the centuries it grew into the standard work.
The book orders dreams by subject: heaven and weather, the body, animals, the house, money, the dead. Each image says whether it brings good or bad fortune. Many people still consult it, nowadays often online.
Good fortune in sounds
A striking feature of Chinese dream interpretation is its play on sounds. The word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for surplus, which is why a fish stands for abundance. A coffin, guancai, sounds like office and wealth, so a dream about a coffin is often read favourably. Water stands for wealth, and in folk tradition even poop is seen as a sign of money.
That makes many readings surprisingly positive. What seems frightening or dirty in a Western dream book can predict good fortune in the Chinese tradition. That makes it useful to know which language and culture lie behind a dream reading.
Dreams about a child
The taimeng hold a special place: dreams said to announce a pregnancy or to tell something about the child. A dragon, a snake, a fish or ripe fruit is often seen in that tradition as a sign that a child is coming. Some families also read in them whether it will be a boy or a girl, or what character the child will have.
Many Chinese families tell such dreams with pleasure, also afterwards, as part of a child's story.
How to use it
The Chinese tradition often sees dreams as omens, but also as a mirror of body and mind. In traditional Chinese medicine certain dreams are linked with the balance of yin and yang and with the organs. So not every dream has to be an omen.
Dreamkin describes how images are often read in the Chinese tradition, without saying what your dream must mean. Readings differ by region and family, and between the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chinese communities elsewhere, including in the Netherlands.
Symbols in this tradition
- Dreaming of an earthquake in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of a bear in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of eggs in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of an elevator in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of the moon in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of fingernails in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of a horse in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of poop in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of police in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of rats in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of a turtle in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of shoes in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of a scorpion in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of snakes in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of losing teeth in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of moving house in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of fish in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of an airplane in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of fire in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of water in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of a mermaid in the Chinese dream tradition
- Dreaming of being pregnant in the Chinese dream tradition
Guides
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Write your dream in the appFrequently asked questions
What is the Zhou Gong Jie Meng?
The best-known Chinese dream book, named after the Duke of Zhou. It orders dream images by subject and says of each image whether it brings good or bad fortune.
Why are Chinese dream readings often so positive?
Partly because of the play on sounds: fish sounds like abundance, a coffin like office and wealth. What seems frightening elsewhere can mean good fortune in the Chinese tradition.
What is a taimeng?
A dream said to announce a pregnancy, often with a dragon, snake, fish or ripe fruit. Some families also read something about the child in it.
What was Zhuangzi's butterfly dream?
Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly and afterwards wondered whether he was a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a man.