Zhougong Dream Dictionary (周公解梦): all 988 lines of the 周公解夢 as transcribed on Chinese Wikisource, in 27 categories. Type a dream symbol (蛇 snake, 水 water, 火 fire, 飞 flying) in Simplified or Traditional to see the line that mentions it, or browse by category. 简体 / 繁體 / English. Browser-only, no network. Folklore / entertainment.
Zhougong Dream Dictionary (周公解夢)
Chinese text: 周公解夢 on Chinese Wikisource, revision 7907671 of 11 July 2026, by Wikisource contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. RECATOOLS split each line into dream and reading, converted it to Simplified with OpenCC and added a draft English translation; the Chinese is reproduced as it stands, uncorrected. The tool's data file is shared under the same licence.
How to use
Type a dream symbol
Enter what you dreamed of into the search box — a single character (蛇 snake, 水 water, 火 fire) or a short phrase (上天 ascending to heaven, 乘龙 riding a dragon). The list filters instantly, showing matching dreams and their traditional meanings.
Read what the text says
Each result splits one line of the text into the dream (梦境) and its reading, tagged with the category (大类) it belongs to (e.g. 龙蛇禽兽等类, dragons, snakes, birds and beasts). When several match, lines that begin with your query come first, then lines whose dream contains it, then lines where it appears only in the reading.
Browse by category
With the search box empty, the tool shows a few common dreams. Click any of the 27 category chips below to browse every dream entry within that category.
Switch language
繁體 shows the Traditional characters exactly as Wikisource has them; English mode keeps the Chinese and adds a draft English translation that has not yet been reviewed by a specialist. In every mode you can search in Simplified, Traditional or a mix. Search runs entirely in your browser, and nothing you type is stored.
Zhougong Dream Dictionary (周公解夢): A Thousand-Year Folk Tradition
The Zhougong Dream Dictionary (周公解梦, Zhōugōng jiěmèng) is China's most widely-known folk tradition for reading dreams — a household name across the Chinese world. It borrows the name of the Duke of Zhou (周公旦), the early-Western-Zhou statesman and sage whom Confucius revered above almost all others, the architect of Zhou ritual and music who served as regent to the young King Cheng. Later generations attached his name to this dream book to lend it authority. In truth the text we have today was not written by the Duke himself; it is a quick-reference handbook of dream meanings accumulated over centuries through oral transmission and copying. It sorts dreams into categories and gives each a short "auspicious or ominous" verdict — "dreaming of a snake", "dreaming of water", "dreaming of teeth falling out" each paired with a one-line meaning. This dictionary holds all 988 lines of the text as transcribed on Chinese Wikisource, in its 27 categories: heaven and stars, land and trees, body and teeth, dragons, snakes, birds and beasts, and more.
The origin and evolution of the text
Treating dreams as signals linking heaven and humankind, foretelling fortune, is an ancient Chinese idea. The Book of Songs and the Zuo Zhuan already record many instances of "dream divination" (占梦), and the Zhou court even kept an official whose job was to interpret the king's dreams. The later Zhougong Dream Dictionary is exactly this divination tradition made popular and itemised for ordinary people. It skips abstruse theory and simply maps "dreaming of X" onto "portends Y", making it easy to flip through. Because it grew by folk accumulation, different editions vary in their entry counts, wording, and verdicts — the same dream may carry different or even opposite readings in different copies. That very inconsistency shows it to be a body of cultural memory and collective imagination, not a fixed set of answers.
"What occupies the mind by day returns as a dream by night." — a dream is more an echo of waking thought than a forecast of the future.
Cultural meaning — and a clear note that dreams have no predictive power
Culturally, the dictionary distils how the ancients observed and associated nature, society, and human life; it is a delight to read and a window onto Chinese folk psychology. But it must be said plainly: dreams have no real power to foretell fortune or misfortune. Why we dream is still an open question in sleep science; what is not in question is that a dream carries no information about the future. Lines such as 蛇入懷中生貴子 ("a snake enters your bosom: a noble son is born") or 齒自落者父母凶 ("teeth fall out on their own: misfortune for your parents") are folk symbolic associations only. They should never guide real-world decisions, and never substitute for medical, psychological, or legal advice. Treat this dictionary as a playful piece of folk-culture reference: look up how the ancients would "read" your dream, enjoy the knowing smile, and leave it there. All data is embedded in the page and search runs entirely in your browser — no network, no model calls, no stored input; the data carries both Simplified and Traditional characters.
The Duke of Zhou did not write it
The dictionary was not written by the Duke of Zhou. Folk tradition attached his revered name to it over the centuries to lend the dream book authority.
Dream divination is ancient in China: the Zhou court kept a dedicated "dream interpreter" official, and the Book of Songs and Zuo Zhuan preserve many dream readings.
The text is structured as a lookup table: dreams sorted into categories, each given a single short verdict — built for quick reference by ordinary readers, not lengthy discussion.
Different editions vary in entry count, wording, and verdict — the same dream can carry different or even opposite readings across copies, a hallmark of folk accumulation.
Folk reading often uses "inverse dream" logic: dreaming of weeping portends joy, dreaming of death portends life — the dream taken as the opposite of reality.
The same symbol does not always read the same way: a snake entering your bosom means a noble son (蛇入懷中生貴子), a dragon or snake killing someone means great misfortune (龍蛇殺人主大凶), and falling teeth appear in only a handful of lines, such as misfortune for your parents (齒自落者父母凶).
This dictionary's 988 lines are arranged in 27 categories — "heaven, sun, moon, stars", "dragons, snakes, birds, beasts", "body, face, teeth, hair" — reflecting classical "sort by kind" thinking.
Why we dream is still an open question in sleep science; what is not in question is that a dream carries no information about the future.
The proverb "what occupies the mind by day returns as a dream by night" captures how dreams echo waking thought — strikingly close to modern psychology's view.
The dictionary remains popular across Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and ASEAN Chinese communities — but today it is enjoyed as folk curiosity and cultural memory, not as a basis for predicting fortune.
Frequently Asked Questions
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It is China's most widely-known folk handbook for reading dreams, attributed to the Western-Zhou sage the Duke of Zhou. It sorts dreams into categories and gives each a short auspicious/ominous verdict (e.g. 蛇入懷中生貴子, "a snake enters your bosom: a noble son is born"). It was accumulated by folk tradition, not written by the Duke himself.
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No. Dreams have no real power to foretell fortune. Why we dream is still an open question in sleep science; what is not in question is that a dream carries no information about the future. Verdicts like "portends wealth" or "portends illness" are folk symbolic associations, pure entertainment; do not base any real decision on them.
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Type the keyword you dreamed of — a single character (蛇, 水) or a short phrase (上天) — and the list filters instantly. Each result shows the dream, its 解 (interpretation), and its category. With the box empty it shows a few common dreams; you can also click a category chip to browse by category.
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988 lines, the whole text as Wikisource has it, in the book's own 27 categories: heaven and stars, land and trees, body and teeth, caps and clothing, dragons, snakes, birds and beasts, livestock, turtles, fish and insects, and more. Click a category chip to browse every line in it.
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Because the dictionary grew by folk accumulation, different copies and editions vary in entries, wording, and verdicts — the same dream may have different or opposite readings. That shows it to be cultural memory and collective imagination, not a fixed answer. The lines here are the 周公解夢 as transcribed on Chinese Wikisource: an unproofread transcription that names no source edition, reproduced as it stands. This tool used to carry a different version copied from the web; against the Wikisource text, 330 of its 952 lines differed and a few reversed the meaning. On a sick person getting up, one says "will certainly die" and the other "will certainly recover".
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The Wikisource text is in Traditional characters, and the 繁體 interface shows it as it stands. The Simplified version was converted in advance with OpenCC, with a few variant characters put in their usual form (著衣 as 着衣, 遶 as 绕). Both are stored in the data, so on any interface you can search in Simplified, Traditional or a mix (龍蛇入门) and find the same line. A leading 梦见 / 夢見 ("dreamed of") is ignored.
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It is a RECATOOLS draft translation of classical Chinese that has not yet been reviewed by a specialist, and the English interface says so. Where the Chinese has an obvious slip (鐘豉 for 鐘鼓, "bells and drums"), the English follows the likely sense and the detail view says why, while the Chinese is left as it is. Where the two disagree, the Chinese is the text.
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In traditional reading, snakes are often linked to wealth or major change, water to riches or worry, and falling teeth to kin or quarrels. But remember these are folk symbolic associations with no scientific basis — type 蛇, 水 or 齿 (or 齒) into the search box to see what the text actually says, which often differs from the popular version: on falling teeth it has only a few lines, such as 齒自落者父母凶, "misfortune for your parents".
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No. All data is embedded in the page; search and browse run entirely in your browser with no server calls, and nothing you type is stored. RECATOOLS enforces zero-tracking + zero-storage.
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No. This dictionary is folk-culture entertainment only, and dreams have no predictive power. Any major decision — marriage, health, finance, travel — should rest on practical analysis and professional advice, never on a dream reading. If a dream causes you anxiety, seek professional psychological or medical help.
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The Zhougong dictionary is a "symbol-to-fortune" folk lookup: a dream maps directly onto good or bad luck. Modern Western interpretation (Freud, Jung) instead treats dreams as symbols of unconscious desire or psychology, analysing the inner self rather than predicting outward fortune. Their premises differ entirely — one is folk culture, the other psychological theory.
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