Shareables · HSK 5 · 文 · Culture
庄子 · 庄周梦蝶
Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, and woke unsure which way round it was.
Opens the card studio: pick a size, switch paper or night, add a note of your own, then save the PNG or hand it straight to the share sheet.
庄周梦蝶Zhuāng Zhōu mèng diéZhuang Zhou dreams a butterfly
原文 · THE PASSAGE
Xī zhě Zhuāng Zhōu mèng wéi húdié,昔者庄周梦为蝴蝶,Once, Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly,
xǔxǔrán húdié yě.栩栩然蝴蝶也。a butterfly flitting and fluttering.
Bù zhī Zhōu zhī mèng wéi húdié yú,不知周之梦为蝴蝶与,He did not know whether Zhou had dreamt the butterfly,
húdié zhī mèng wéi Zhōu yú?蝴蝶之梦为周与?or the butterfly was dreaming Zhou.
与 at the end of a classical sentence is read yú, not yǔ. It is the particle that leaves a question hanging. 《庄子·齐物论》
What this card is
A one-page Chinese lesson from the HSK 5 set, filed under 文 · Culture. Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, and woke unsure which way round it was.
How to use it
Open the card studio above, choose a size (9:16 for TikTok and Stories, 4:5 for a feed, 1.91:1 for a link preview), then save the PNG or share it directly. The same content is written out on this page, so you can read or copy it as text.
Where it fits
The source: 庄周梦蝶 in the dictionary.
See where this level sits in the HSK levels guide, browse every card, or look any word up in the dictionary.
More from HSK 5
- 成语 · 刻舟求剑 — Notching the boat to find the sword. A map of a world that has moved on.
- 成语 · 温故知新 — Warm up the old to know the new. Confucius on why review is not a chore.
- 唐诗 · 春晓 — Spring Dawn: waking to birdsong and wondering how many blossoms the rain took.
- 电影 · 霸王别姬 — A film title that is also a 2,200-year-old scene: the warlord says goodbye.
- 能力与成就 · Ability, Achievement & Excellence — The 11 words of Ability, Achievement & Excellence, with readings.
- 动作与日常互动 · Actions & Everyday Interactions — The 12 words of Actions & Everyday Interactions, with readings.
- 辩论与批评 · Argumentation, Debate & Criticism — The 10 words of Argumentation, Debate & Criticism, with readings.
- 文艺与古典文化 · Arts, Literature & Classical Culture — The 10 words of Arts, Literature & Classical Culture, with readings.
A card is one idea. The course is the map they all sit on. HSK 0 through HSK 6 on a prerequisite-ordered knowledge graph: active recall in small steps, reviews timed to land just before you would forget, and speaking practice built on the comment + question method. From $49 once for lifetime access.
See plans