Chinese idiom · 成语
南柯一梦
Meaning
A dream under the southern branch; life’s fleeting illusions.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary taleLi Gongzuo's Tang tale The Governor of Nanke (南柯太守传) follows Chunyu Fen, who falls asleep after drinking with friends. In his dream he enters Great Huai'an, marries a princess, and governs Nanke for twenty years. A flourishing household and public honor give way to bereavement and political suspicion, and he is eventually sent home.
He wakes to find that the afternoon has scarcely advanced. Investigating the old locust tree near his home, he and his companions discover an ant colony whose chambers match the dream kingdom; a passage reaching the southern branch corresponds to Nanke, the Southern Bough. The fantasy makes worldly status appear small and unstable. It is a literary story about the fragility of success, not a historical ant kingdom.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
项目突然取消，大家盼了半年的海外进修成了南柯一梦。
The project was abruptly canceled, and the overseas training everyone had anticipated for six months became an empty dream.
Describes vanished hopes or dreamlike, impermanent worldly success.