Dreaming in Chinese: Explanation, Exorcism, and Divination in the Late Ming
Dr. Brigid Vance
My book project, "Dreaming in Chinese: Explanation, Exorcism, and Divination in the Late Ming," highlights the complex and even contradictory ways in which dream divination impacted the individual, society, and the larger body politic, based on a close analysis of late imperial Chinese encyclopedias, gazetteers, poetry, and travel diaries. Specifically, I address the how, who, and where of late Ming dream divinatory practice to underscore the creation of a visible and social system of meaning surrounding individual dreams. The textual record fixed dreams, dream divination, and dream-related techniques in time, space, and collective memory. This study highlights the complex and even contradictory ways in which dream divination impacted the individual,society, and the larger body politic. Dream-related text and images from the late Ming demonstrate that dreams were divined to determine or justify individual life choices, maintain community health, and determine political legitimacy, suggesting that dreams were regulated on three interrelated levels.
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