What does the Chinese idiom 叶公好龙 mean?

叶公好龙 (yè gōng hào lóng) means “Lord Ye loves dragons.” It describes someone who claims to love something but runs from it when it actually shows up, so the love is only on the surface.

What is the moral of Lord Ye Loves Dragons?

Loving something has to be more than words, or liking pictures of it. Lord Ye filled his house with dragons, but when a real one came to visit, he hid under his bed. Really loving something means being willing to face the real thing.

Where does 叶公好龙 come from?

It comes from the Xinxu (New Prefaces), compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han dynasty, in the section “Miscellaneous Matters.” Confucius’s student Zizhang told it to Duke Ai of Lu, who claimed to value talented men but did not receive Zizhang properly when he came to see him.

How do you pronounce 叶公好龙?

Today it is yè gōng hào lóng. 好 is fourth tone, hào, meaning “to be fond of,” not hǎo, “good.” Lord Ye is usually identified as Shen Zhuliang, also called Zigao, an official of the state of Chu in the Spring and Autumn period whose fief was at Ye, around today’s Ye County in Henan. The place name 叶 was once read shè, but the official list of standard Mandarin readings published in 1985 settled on yè.

Lord Ye Loves Dragons (叶公好龙)

Ages 4–8
English audio 2 min
Mandarin audio 3 min

Lord Ye Loves Dragons is a classic story from Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids, for children aged 4–8. This page has the English story with a native English narration (about 2 min), plus the Chinese version with Mandarin narration (about 3 min). Free to read and listen, no sign-up.

Lord Ye says he loves dragons and fills his house with them, but when a real dragon comes to visit, he runs and hides under the bed. The idiom story 叶公好龙 in English and Chinese, with narration.

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Read Lord Ye Loves Dragons

Long ago, there was a lord called Lord Ye. He told everyone, "I love dragons more than anything!"

And it looked true. There were dragons on his belt. There were dragons on his cups. There were dragons on the walls, on the doors and on the windows. His whole house was full of dragons.

Every day, Lord Ye looked at his dragons and smiled. "Dragons are so wonderful," he said. "I wish I could meet a real one."

People talked about Lord Ye and his dragons. Soon a real dragon in the sky heard the news. "Someone loves me that much? I must go and see him!" So the dragon flew down on a cloud.

That night, Lord Ye was reading in his room. Suddenly the wind blew, and thunder rumbled. A huge dragon head looked in through the window. Its eyes shone like two lanterns. Its long tail reached all the way into the hall.

"Hello, Lord Ye!" said the dragon happily. "I heard you love dragons, so I came to visit!"

Lord Ye looked up and screamed. His face went white. He dropped his book and ran. He lost one shoe, but he did not stop. He hid under his bed and shook all over.

The dragon was surprised. It looked at all the dragon pictures. Then it looked at Lord Ye under the bed. "Oh," said the dragon. "You love pictures of dragons, not real ones." And it flew back into the sky.

After a long time, Lord Ye came out. He looked at the empty sky. A real dragon had come to see him, and he had not said one word.

The Chinese version: 叶公好龙

很久很久以前，楚国有一个地方叫“叶”。管这个地方的大官，大家都叫他叶公。叶公逢人就说：“我呀，最最喜欢的就是龙了！”

他是真的很喜欢龙吗？你瞧瞧他家：衣带的钩子上，刻着龙；用的器具上，刻着龙；墙上画着龙，柱子上盘着龙，连门上、窗户上，都雕满了弯弯曲曲的龙。走进叶公家，就像走进了一个龙的世界。

叶公每天摸摸这条龙，看看那条龙，笑眯眯地说：“龙多威风啊！要是能见一见真的龙，那该多好！”

这件事一传十，十传百，一直传到了天上。天上的真龙听说了，又惊又喜：“人间竟然有人这么喜欢我，我得去看看他！”于是，真龙驾着一朵云，呼呼地飞了下来。

那天晚上，叶公正坐在屋里看书。窗外忽然刮起了大风，乌云翻滚，轰隆隆地打起了雷。一个大大的龙头，从窗户外面探了进来，两只眼睛像两盏亮亮的灯笼，长长的胡须一飘一飘。龙的尾巴呢，一直拖进了厅堂里。

真龙高高兴兴地说：“叶公，你好呀！听说你最喜欢龙，我特地来看你啦！”

叶公抬头一看，“啊——”地大叫一声，脸一会儿白，一会儿青。他扔下书，转身就跑，一只鞋子跑掉了也顾不上捡，一头钻到床底下，浑身直打哆嗦。

真龙愣住了。它看看满屋子画的龙、刻的龙，又看看床底下发抖的叶公，摇摇头，叹了一口气：“原来，你喜欢的是画出来的龙、刻出来的龙，并不是真正的龙啊。”说完，它驾着云，慢慢地飞回了天上。

过了好久好久，叶公才从床底下爬出来。他望着窗外空空的夜空，心里有点儿后悔：真龙特地来看他，他却连一句话也没跟它说。

Lord Ye Loves Dragons (叶公好龙): the moral of the story

Really loving something means more than saying so. If you say you love something, be ready to face it, and get to know it, when the real thing turns up.

What does Lord Ye Loves Dragons mean?: Literally “Lord Ye loves dragons”: 叶公 (yè gōng) Lord Ye, 好 (hào) to be fond of (not hǎo, “good”), 龙 (lóng) dragon. It describes someone who says they love something but backs away when the real thing appears, a love that is only for show.
Example sentence: My brother says every day that he wants a puppy, but when the neighbor’s puppy ran up to him, he hid behind Mom. Dad laughed: “叶公好龙 (yè gōng hào lóng)!”

The original Chinese text of Lord Ye Loves Dragons

叶公子高好龙，钩以写龙，凿以写龙，屋室雕文以写龙。于是夫龙闻而下之，窥头于牖，施尾于堂。叶公见之，弃而还走，失其魂魄，五色无主。是叶公非好龙也，好夫似龙而非龙者也。

— 刘向《新序·杂事》

Our translation

Lord Ye, Zigao, loved dragons. He had dragons on his belt hooks and dragons on his vessels, and the carvings all over his house were of dragons. Then the dragon heard of it and came down to him. It poked its head in at the window and trailed its tail across the hall. When Lord Ye saw it, he dropped everything and fled, scared out of his wits, his face changing color, not knowing what to do. So Lord Ye did not really love dragons. He loved things that looked like dragons but were not dragons.

— Liu Xiang, Xinxu (New Prefaces), “Miscellaneous Matters” (1st century BC)

Chinese words in Lord Ye Loves Dragons

Play the Chinese narration and listen for these words. The pinyin shows the tones.

叶公好龙yè gōng hào lóng
Lord Ye loves dragons
喜欢xǐ huan
like, love
龙lóng
dragon
灯笼dēng long
lantern
窗户chuāng hu
window
尾巴wěi ba
tail
鞋子xié zi
shoe
床chuáng
bed

Bedtime storytelling tips

Slow down when the real dragon arrives, but give the dragon a warm, happy voice, so your child knows it is a friendly dragon and nothing to be scared of at bedtime.
When you read about all the dragons in Lord Ye’s house, play “count the dragons”: let your child count on their fingers how many places have dragons.
Read it in parts: your child is the real dragon and says “Hello!”, and you are Lord Ye, who shrieks and dives under the covers. In the Chinese version the dragon says 你好 (nǐ hǎo), so your child can greet you in both languages.

Things to talk about afterwards

Where were the dragons in Lord Ye’s house?
When the real dragon came, why did Lord Ye run away?
Did Lord Ye really love dragons? What do you think really loving something looks like?

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Lord Ye Loves Dragons (叶公好龙): common questions

What does the Chinese idiom 叶公好龙 mean?: 叶公好龙 (yè gōng hào lóng) means “Lord Ye loves dragons.” It describes someone who claims to love something but runs from it when it actually shows up, so the love is only on the surface.
What is the moral of Lord Ye Loves Dragons?: Loving something has to be more than words, or liking pictures of it. Lord Ye filled his house with dragons, but when a real one came to visit, he hid under his bed. Really loving something means being willing to face the real thing.
Where does 叶公好龙 come from?: It comes from the Xinxu (New Prefaces), compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han dynasty, in the section “Miscellaneous Matters.” Confucius’s student Zizhang told it to Duke Ai of Lu, who claimed to value talented men but did not receive Zizhang properly when he came to see him.
How do you pronounce 叶公好龙?: Today it is yè gōng hào lóng. 好 is fourth tone, hào, meaning “to be fond of,” not hǎo, “good.” Lord Ye is usually identified as Shen Zhuliang, also called Zigao, an official of the state of Chu in the Spring and Autumn period whose fief was at Ye, around today’s Ye County in Henan. The place name 叶 was once read shè, but the official list of standard Mandarin readings published in 1985 settled on yè.

Source and how we retold it

From the “Miscellaneous Matters” (杂事) section of the Xinxu (New Prefaces), compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han dynasty; the original is in the public domain. In the original, Confucius’s student Zizhang tells the story to Duke Ai of Lu. The duke said he valued talented men, yet when Zizhang traveled a long way to see him, he was not received with courtesy for seven days. So Zizhang told the story of Lord Ye, saying that what the duke loved was only something that looked like a talented man. We tell only the Lord Ye part, expanded for children. The original says Lord Ye was frightened out of his wits; we made it lighter, and the dragon speaking, flying back to the sky and Lord Ye’s regret are our additions. Our quotation of the original follows the Sibu Congkan edition; some editions have 天龙 (“heavenly dragon”) where it reads 夫龙.

The narration on this page is AI-generated: the English is read by 英伦绅士 and the Chinese by 温柔妈妈. The audio files are labeled as AI-generated.

If you liked Lord Ye Loves Dragons (叶公好龙), there are more stories in Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids. You can also read this one to your child in your own voice.