My dissertation, “The Cult of Laughter: Emotional Refuge, Commercial Publishing, and Social Entertainment in Late Ming China (1573-1644),” sits at the intersection of the history of emotions, cultural history, the history of the book, and social history. Unveiling the unprecedented publication and consumption of jokes during this period, my research suggests that the burgeoning publishing culture and social entertainment, spurred by commercialization and urbanization, ultimately gave rise to a transformation in emotional expression: a cult of laughter. Guided by William Redding’s theoretical framework on emotions, my work posits that laughter evolved into an “emotional refuge” where the mercantile literati both resisted and engaged with the prevailing emotional norms dictated by Confucian ideology, simultaneously articulating their emerging values and worldviews. This project is not only grounded in historical research but emphasizes literary and cultural studies.