"中式梦核"是近年在青年群体中流行的亚文化形式，通过数字技术将童年生活印象转化为具有复古色彩的梦幻图像[1]。这种美学风格采用低像素、高噪点、色彩失真等视觉处理手法[1]，源自欧美"梦核"艺术，但经过中国青年的创造性转译，融入本土生活经验和文化记忆，成为年轻人释放压力的独特表达方式[1]。
小红书上相关话题浏览量已突破5亿，讨论量超过170万[1]，青年通过分享这些图像实现了从文化接受者到生产者的身份转变[1]。值得注意的是，欧美"梦核"主要关注梦境即时氛围和现代社会困境，而"中式梦核"则更加关注人与家庭、地方、他者的社会联结[1]，体现了本土化的文化审美特色。
A new youth subculture known as "Chinese Dream Core" has gained significant traction among young people in China, transforming nostalgic childhood memories into digitally crafted, dreamy imagery.[1] This visual style employs digital processing techniques to create low-pixel, high-noise, and color-distorted images.[1] The phenomenon has attracted massive online engagement, with the topic on the social media platform Little Red Book accumulating over 500 million views and generating more than 1.7 million related discussions.[1]
While "Chinese Dream Core" draws inspiration from the Western "Dream Core" artistic movement, Chinese youth have creatively adapted and localized the aesthetic by infusing it with their own lived experiences and cultural memories.[1] A key distinction lies in thematic focus: whereas Western dream core art emphasizes the immediacy of dream atmospheres and anxieties of modern society, the Chinese variant prioritizes social connections—between individuals and their families, communities, local places, and other people.[1] Through sharing and creating these images on digital platforms, young people have shifted from being passive consumers of culture to active producers.[1]