Chinese Dream Culture

As the Hollywood blockbuster Inception wowed audiences around world, more and more people are interested in dream exploration.

Dreams are reflections of humans’ inner spaces and a connection between human subconscious and consciousness. Everybody can dream, even animals can have dreams, but in human civilizations, dreams have always been regarded as a mystery. In primitive tribes, dreams were thought to be the indication of God or the haunting of the devil.

Ancient Stories about Dreams in China

Dream culture is an important part of ancient Chinese culture. There are many ancient stories about dreams in China, and the most famous one is Zhuangzhou Dreamt of Butterfly.

Zhuangzhou Dreamt of Butterfly

In ancient times, there was a man named Zhuangzhou. One day, he dreamt of himself becoming a butterfly. When he woke up, he posed a philosophical question: Was Zhuangzhou dreaming of himself becoming a butterfly, or was a butterfly dreaming of itself becoming Zhuangzhou?

Golden Millet Dream

Golden Millet Dream is a story about a poor, unhappy scholar who fell asleep while waiting for his lunch. He dreamt he became a high official and enjoyed a life of wealth and comfort, only to wake up and find that the pot of millet was still cooking for him on the fire.

Jiang Yan dreamt about the blooming of his writing brush

Jiang Yan Dreamt about the Blooming of his Writing Brush is a story Jiang Yan, an official from the Southern Dynasty (479-534). One night when he fell asleep, he dreamt a god gave him a colorful writing brush, and from then on his literary talents were inspired and he became the most successful writer of that time. When Jiang Yan was old, the god appeared once again in his dream and told Jiang to give the writing brush back to him. Jiang’s brilliant creative power soon faded away.

The Book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams

Dream interpreting is popular in China, and the most famous reference for dream interpreting is the book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams.

Ancient Chinese people thought that dreams can imply auspicious and inauspicious things. The book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams was usually used as a reference for ancient people to interpret their dreams. Since different dreams have different meanings, people can get implications of auspiciousness or inauspiciousness by interpreting them, as ancient people had the idea that dreams were the implication from God.