Escaping the End of Times 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 scholars countered dramatic 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.