TL;DR: The folk book Chu Công giải mộng has no line for dreaming that you yourself are pregnant. It reads birth omens through other images: the sky brightening or a star entering the bosom means a noble son, the sun entering the bosom a noble son and the moon a daughter; seeing a newborn is great good fortune; holding a small child means quarrels and losing one's clothes a difficult birth for the wife. This is the reading of a folk book borrowing the name Chu Công, not a scientific conclusion about dreams or pregnancy.
What is Chu Công giải mộng, and why do people look up pregnancy dreams in it?
Chu Công giải mộng (周公解夢) is the collective name for a line of dream-interpretation books passed down in Chinese folk tradition, borrowing the name of the Duke of Zhou to lend it authority. The book has no known author or date, and its contents are usually arranged by category such as heaven and earth, sun, moon and stars, boats and carts, insects, with each omen written as a seven-character line. One of the book's 27 sections carries the words “产孕” (childbirth and pregnancy), so a pregnancy dream has a place to be checked against.
Two layers need separating: Chu Công is a historical figure of the early Zhou, revered by Confucians, while the book bearing his name is a later folk product. Tradition attributes the dream book to Chu Công; modern research does not consider that proven.
What does dreaming of being pregnant and giving birth mean in Chu Công giải mộng?
The book has no line for dreaming that you yourself are pregnant. Its fourteenth section is titled “夫妻 产孕 交欢” (husband and wife, childbirth and pregnancy, intimacy), but the line there closest to a dream of giving birth is “新生男女主大吉”: seeing a newborn, boy or girl, is a sign of great good fortune.[1] The same section has two lines pointing the other way: “抱小儿女主口舌” (holding a small child means quarrels) and “小儿死者主口舌” (a small child dying also means quarrels).[1]
The lines about having a child are scattered across other sections, and most of them are good omens. The first section, “天地 日月 星辰” (heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars), has “天明妇有生贵子” (the sky brightens, a woman will bear a noble son), “日月昏暗孕妇吉” (the sun and moon grow dim, it goes well for a pregnant woman), “吞日月当生贵子” (swallowing the sun and moon, one will bear a noble son) and “日入怀贵子月女” (the sun entering the bosom means a noble son, the moon entering the bosom a daughter).[1]
"Noble son" is an old way of speaking, carrying the sense of a child blessed with good fortune, not a claim that the child will later succeed.
Which details change the reading?
The book reads the images in a dream, not whether someone is pregnant. The table below lists only lines that appear word for word in the book, grouped by section:
| Dream image | Original line | The book's reading | Section of the book |
|---|---|---|---|
| The sky brightening | 天明妇有生贵子 | A woman bears a noble son | Heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars |
| The sun and moon growing dim | 日月昏暗孕妇吉 | It goes well for a pregnant woman | Heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars |
| The sun and moon meeting | 日月合会妻有子 | The wife will have a child | Heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars |
| The sun or moon entering the bosom | 日入怀贵子月女 | The sun means a noble son, the moon a daughter | Heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars |
| A star entering the bosom | 星入怀主生贵子 | Birth of a noble son | Heaven and earth, sun and moon, stars |
| Two people crossing a bridge hand in hand | 携手上桥妻有孕 | The wife is pregnant | Roads, bridges, markets |
| A newborn, boy or girl | 新生男女主大吉 | Great good fortune | Husband and wife, childbirth, intimacy |
| Holding a small child | 抱小儿女主口舌 | Quarrels | Husband and wife, childbirth, intimacy |
| A swallow flying into the bosom | 燕飞入怀妻生子 | The wife bears a child | Dragons and snakes, birds and beasts |
| A carp | 鲤鱼妻有孕大吉 | The wife is pregnant, great good fortune | Turtles, fish, insects |
| Losing one's clothes | 失却衣服妻难产 | The wife has a difficult birth | Caps, clothes, shoes |
| Clothes soiled with mud | 泥污衣裳主产凶 | The birth goes badly | Dirt, bathing, humiliation |
The book has no separate line for cases like "dreaming of being pregnant while unmarried" or "dreaming that someone else is pregnant". Its lines on pregnancy all speak of a wife or a woman (妻, 妇), so readings for those cases are inferred from nearby omens, not the book's own words.
Why does the folk book class childbirth dreams as auspicious?
In the book, the phrase “生贵子” (bearing a noble son) appears in 21 lines, while only two lines say outright that a birth will go badly: losing one's clothes and clothes soiled with mud.[1] This can be understood from the book's context: in an agricultural society, children are labor and continuation of the line, so childbirth is the most anticipated event in a family. This classification reflects the hopes of the book's writers and users, not any law of dreams.
Should this reading be used to decide about having children?
No. Folk dream books only record how people of the past read dreams; they have no basis for predicting the sex of a fetus or the outcome of a pregnancy. Whether one is pregnant, the sex of the fetus, and pregnancy health are determined by biological and medical factors; to know accurately, one needs examination and ultrasound as directed by a doctor. The book's readings can be used to understand culture, to converse, but should not be used for reassurance or excessive worry.
Where in the book should you look up a pregnancy dream?
Not only in the section on husband and wife and childbirth. Lines containing “孕” (pregnancy), “生贵子” (bearing a noble son) or “有子” (having a child) appear in more than ten sections: heaven and earth, mountains and trees, caps and clothes, gold and jade, mirrors and hairpins, roads, bridges and markets, food and drink, dragons, snakes, birds and beasts, fish and insects.[1] So a reader has to start from the main image of the dream, such as the sun, a fish or a garment, find the section holding that image, and read the whole seven-character line rather than a single word.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion
If you dream of being pregnant or giving birth, you can see it as a beautiful dream tied to hopes for family and children. If the dream leaves you anxious for a long time, share it with someone close or a mental health professional rather than looking up more.
