It is considered one of Zhang's most famous works and an ideal example of the xiaopin style of essays produced during the late Ming dynasty.
[5] Dream Memories of Tao'an was written during this period, although it wasn't published until 1775, forty years into the Qianlong reign.
Zhang Dai confessed in the preface that the past "glory, honor, and wealth" were all but "one dream", and that by compiling a recollection "in front of the Buddha", he was "repenting" the casual and excessive luxury and pleasure from his earlier years.
[5][3] : 188 While the underlying mood in this nostalgic recollection of a lost world may be bitter, the narrations are filled with charming visions of the past: it could be vibrant scenes of the tourist crowds and drinking parties on the West Lake, as in "Mid-July at the West Lake" (西湖七月半, Xi hu qi yue ban), or a sense of tranquil solitude on a snowy winter day, as in "A Snow Day at the West Lake" (湖心亭看雪, Hu xin ting kan xue).
[5] There are abundant records on "gardens, artworks, theatre, courtesan",[3]: 188 teahouses, folklores, calligraphies, antiques, flowers, excursions, ponds, and mountains of the author's time.