Divining Political Legitimacy in a Late Ming Dream Encyclopedia The Encyclopedia and its Historical Context

This paper explores the relationship between dreams and political legitimacy through the lens of the late Ming dream encyclopedia Guidelines for Dreams and Dream Divination (Meng zhan yi zhi). It argues that one way in which rulers communicated their legitimacy was through dreams, interpreted accordingly and documented in textual records. Dream interpreters used multiple modes of dream interpretation techniques—symbolism, homophonic resonances, and glyphomancy—to grant legitimacy and expose disloyalty. Dream interpretations were central to a shared understanding of the past, the then-unfolding present, and the future. The dream interpreter helped bind symbolic reality to political reality and as such wielded considerable political power.