一枕黄粱 — “A transient, illusory dream or a vain hope”

一枕黄粱 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “a transient, illusory dream or a vain hope”. A pipe dream. Literally, “A pillow of yellow millet”.

Frequency

一枕黄粱 Pronunciation and Pinyin

一枕黄粱 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
一	yī	1	one, a, single, whole
枕	zhěn	8	pillow or rest head on
黄	huáng	11	yellow color
粱	liáng	13	fine grain, sorghum, millet

Example Sentence with 一枕黄粱

他一直梦想着一夜暴富，但这些不过是一枕黄粱罢了，脚踏实地才是正道。

He had always dreamed of getting rich overnight, but these were nothing more than a pipe dream; being down-to-earth is the right path.

Origin and Story of 一枕黄粱

Once upon a time, there was an impoverished scholar named Lu Sheng. In an inn in Handan, he met a Taoist priest named Lü Weng. Lü Weng gave him a special pillow.

At that moment, the innkeeper had just begun to cook yellow millet rice. Lu Sheng decided to take a short nap.

In his dream, he passed the imperial examination, rose to become a prime minister, married a beautiful wife, had numerous children and grandchildren, and lived a remarkably fulfilling and prosperous life.

When he woke up, he found that the innkeeper's yellow millet rice was still not yet cooked, signifying the brevity and illusory nature of his entire dream.