Summary:
The interpretation of dreams has always been an important feature of Chinese culture, both learned and popular. This article aims to analyse how Jesuit missionaries in China approached this issue. In theory, missionaries from the Society of Jesus had their own oneirology, inherited from Aristotle, and some of them, such as Francesco Sambiasi and Giulio Aleni, wrote on the matter. However, Jesuit records show that this subject was far from unanimously treated within the Society. Jesuit archives in the Biblioteca da Ajuda (Lisbon) contain several accounts of dreams of Chinese converts, as well as some comments from missionaries on the subject.
This article also contains a case-study of dream accounts and visions of a Chinese convert whose biography was written by Jacques Motel SJ (1616–92).
Summary also in Portuguese.

Local access dig.pdf. [Ribeiro-Dreams.pdf]

Francesco Sambiasi 畢方濟, Shui da Hua da 睡答畫答 [睡畫二答] (1629)--pref.
Also in: 耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻. Chinese Christian texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus: CCT ARSI, BX1665.A2 Y47 2002 vol. 6, pp. 379-434 [ARSI (Archivum Romanum Societas Iesu, Rome), Shelf: Jap.Sin. II, 59]

037R ZKW 200.5 (Xu 423) [c] [Xu 340-341]
ms., Francesco Sambiasi, Shui da, Hua da 睡答, 畫答 [睡畫二答] (1629); copy-book, 20 ffnc (8/22; ff. 3-10 and 12: 9/25) ) -- Cf. Adrian Dudink, "The Zikawei Collection" (Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal XVIII (1996)), p. 17.
In volume 1 of: Xujiahui cangshulou Ming Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 徐家匯藏書樓明清天主教文獻.
For complete contents see: Standaert, Nicolas, Xujiahui cangshulou Ming Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 徐家匯藏書樓明清天主教文獻.
For a description of all 37 texts, see the catalog of the Fujen Zikawei collection in Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal XVIII (1996), or see individual records.

JapSin II, 59a
Huada 畫答.
By Bi Fangji 畢方濟 (Francesco Sambiasi, 1582–1649).
One juan. Bamboo paper. Published by the Shanglunzhai 尚論齋 in 1629 (Chongzhen 2).

There is a preface (three and one-half folios), dated 1629 (Chongzhen 2), by Li Zhizao to both the Shuida (59b) and the Huada (59a) under the title 睡畫二答引 (an introduction to the Colloquies on sleep and allegorical pictures), at the end of which there are two seals in cursive style: 耕犁石堂涼叟 and 李之藻印.
Folio 1 gives the title of this book, and the names of the author and of the reviser (Sun Yuanhua): 海西畢方濟譔 | 雲間孫元化訂. There are six columns in each half folio with seventeen characters to each column. The title is given in the middle of each folio and the number of the folio below. The booklet consists of 6 folios with no lines to separate the columns.

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 364.

JapSin II, 59b
Shuida 睡答.
By Bi Fangji 畢方濟 (Francesco Sambiasi, 1582–1649).
One juan. Bamboo paper. Published by the Shanglunzhai 尚論齋 in 1629 (Chongzhen 2).

Folio 1 gives the title of the book, and the names of the author and of the reviser (Sun Yuanhua): 西海畢譔，雲間方濟孫元化訂.
Each half folio consists of nine columns with nineteen characters to each column for the questions and eighteen for the replies. The title is given in the middle of each folio with the number of the folio marked below the fish-tail. The treatise consists of sixteen folios. At the end of the book the date and the publisher is given: 己巳冬仲尚論齋校梓.
These two treatises were written in the form of questions and answers. They deal with physiological and philosophical problems. Li Zhizao in his introduction gives us a general idea of what the treatises are about:

If one tries to reflect, one is from one’s birth to one’s death in the state of a dream. For one’s neighbor this dream is nothing but a picture. From the ancient to the present day all men are in a dream, in a picture . . . These two treatises of Father Sambiasi [contain two ideas]: in general, he [exhorts us] to reflect and to practice self-sacrifice; in particular, [he recommends us] to penetrate through our lives and to contemplate that in this universe there is the truth and that there is much for us to learn and inquire . . .

Cf. Pfister, p. 143, no. 2–3; Feng 1938, p. 168; Hsü 1949, pp. 340–341; Courant 3385; Couplet, p. 15; DMB 2:1151.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 364-365.

JapSin II, 59 D
Shuihua erda 睡畫二答.
By Bi Fangji 畢方濟 (Francesco Sambiasi).

The cover bears a label with the title in Chinese and a Latin inscription: “De somniis et | pictura | a p. Franc. Sambiasi, S.J.”

This is a duplicate of Jap-Sin II, 59a and 59b, but the order of the treatises is reversed and the margins are narrower than in the books just mentioned, which measure 26 x 15.4 cm, whereas the present book measures only 23.4 x 15.7 cm.

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 365.

For full bibliographic and textual citation see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).