What is 'Duke Zhou Interpreting Dreams'

The Duke of Zhou was surnamed Ji Mingdan. He was the fourth son of King Wen of Zhou and the younger brother of King Wu. He was a famous politician in ancient China. Because his fief was in Zhou and his rank was Shanggong, he was called the Duke of Zhou. The Duke of Zhou assisted King Wu of Zhou twice in conquering King Zhou in the east. After King Wu's death, the Duke of Zhou was regent and assisted King Wu's son in governing the world, but he never had the idea of usurping power.

In order to strengthen the Central Dynasty's rule over local governments, the Duke of Zhou summarized the experience of previous generations and formulated systems such as canonization, hunting patrols, pilgrimage, and tribute to maintain the patriarchal system of monarch and minister and the laws and regulations of upper and lower hierarchies. The Duke of Zhou established the system of eldest son succession. Succession to the throne must be based on blood. There were also a series of strict etiquette systems such as monarch and minister, father and son, brothers, relatives and distant, superior and inferior.

Duke Dan of Zhou returned to govern King Cheng six years after regent. His contribution to the feudal etiquette system was admired by Confucian scholars. The social order proposed by the Duke of Zhou was exactly what Confucius pursued. Confucius frequently dreamed of meeting the Duke of Zhou. He used the words 'I no longer dreamed of meeting the Duke of Zhou' to metaphor the loss of etiquette culture in the Zhou Dynasty. Later, the Duke of Zhou was directly associated with his dream by later generations, and the dream became the 'Dream of the Duke of Zhou.' Therefore, the Duke of Zhou in the interpretation of his dream was the Duke of Zhou Dan.

The dreams of the Duke of Zhou are widely used in various dream interpretation cultures. In fact, the Duke of Zhou did not interpret dreams, but instead referred to the theory of interpretation of dreams.