Escaping the End of Times: Dreams in the Late Ming China

 Escaping the End of Times is a book where history meets psychology. It invites readers to explore the intricate relationships between dreams, politics, and the Chinese writing system in early modern China.

Thoroughly researched and written in an accessible manner, this book presents a series of historical encounters that reveal how Ming scholars countered instability by compiling and editing dream texts. Readers learn how these scholars translated their dreams into action, used the past to bolster their status, reaffirmed their preferred societal order, merged myth and history, and interpreted their dreams and the dreams of others through creative techniques grounded in scholarly tradition.

By combining detailed research with captivating storytelling, this book not only brings the world of late Ming dream analysis to life but also demonstrates the relevance of the past to the stories we tell now about ourselves and our own dreams.

Brigid E. Vance, currently an associate professor of History at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, earned a PhD in History at Princeton University (2012) and a certificate in Further Education in Analytical Psychology from the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland (2017).

In 2020, Lawrence University recognized her exemplary pedagogy with the Award for Excellent Teaching by an Early Career Faculty Member. Her article, “Finding Their Voice: Student Podcasts on the East Asian Collection at Lawrence University’s Wriston Galleries” (The History Teacher, 2021) won the 2022 American Historical Association William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for the best essay on teaching history.

 This is a fresh look at a chapter in the history of dream interpretation that has been little discussed in English language sources. Vance brings her own grace at expression to uncover the code of unconscious cultural creativity that Ming intellectuals found in their dreams.

—John Beebe

Jungian analyst, author of Integrity in Depth

In this captivating and methodologically innovative book, Vance immerses readers in the dream world of the Ming. Bringing historical insight to bear on personal experience, she inspires readers to reflect on the enduring power of dreams and memory to shape social identity and self-expression.

—Rivi Handler-Spitz

sinologist, Macalester College

An exquisitely told tale of another time with deep resonance for our own. Marginalized and disempowered in the social and political chaos of late Ming China, educated literati turned to dreams for meaning, understanding and escape in the “end of times.”

—Jerald Podair

historian, Lawrence University

It is a truly unique history book, yet so much more than that. It draws you in with an engaging analysis of how people sought certainty in flux and found control through creative play. Vance writes as if she and the reader inhabit the same world as the Ming people, imbuing the book with irresistible charm.

—Zuo Ya

historian, University of California, Santa Barbara

 List of Figures xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Preface xix

Chapter 1 Merging Myth and History 1

Chapter 2 Action through Dreams 43

Chapter 3 Divine the Past to Reaffirm Literati Status 67

Chapter 4 Reaffirming an Order by Mastering the Complexity of Dreams 93

Chapter 5 A Literatus’ Toolkit for Dream Interpretation 145

Epilogue The Code of Creativity 181

Appendix Title Page and Edition Comparison of Forest of Dreams 193

Bibliography 207

Index 217