answering questions

 

1. We learned in lecture that the nine-tailed fox is usually attributed to the Tu-Shan girl, wife of Yu the Great or even the Tu-Shan tribe as a figure of worship and auspiciousness. In the reading however, it states that “Whoever eats it will be protected against insect-poison (gu).” While eating this sacred animal would clearly protect the person, would it not also bring them bad luck for harming it? 

2. In the story of Chang Hua and the fox, it is hard to determine what the moral is.  The fox was obviously very smart, but because he was young, Chang Hua was suspicious that he was a fox. This could be a way that people legitimized gate-keeping high scholarly positions from younger people. However, at the same time, the fox makes a good argument, saying that if you become suspicious of anyone just because they are smarter (better) than you, everyone would keep to themselves for fear of suspicion. So what is the main takeaway from the story? 

3. We know how foxes are cunning and smart, but Ren also seems to know some very detailed information. Are foxes known to be able to tell the future or see into people’s minds? Otherwise, how would she have known about the horse and the exact price it would sell for?

select two questions and answer them. No less than 100words

readings are attached

The Six Dynasties 101

(24) Chang Hua and the Fox

Chang Hua, styled Mao-hsien, was Minister of Public
Works in the time of Emperor Hui [r. 290-307] of the Chin.
One day there appeared a speckled fox iii front of the tomb
of King Chao of Yen [290-259 B.C.]. It was very old and
could transform itself. In this instance it changed into a
student who wished to go see Chang Hua.

On the way it inquired of the spirit of the memorial
post in front of the tomb, “Judging from my talent and
appearance, do you think I am qualified to see Minister
Chang?”

“With your extraordinary intelligence, there should be
nothing you cannot accomplish,” replied the post, “But
Chang is very wise and perceptive, and I think he’ll be
very difficult to ensnare. You will certainly meet with
disgrace if you go and probably won’t be able to come back.
Not only will you lose your virtue attained only with a
thousand years’ cultivation, but you will involve me in an
unpleasant manner as well.”

The fox paid no heed but, visiting card in hand, went
off to meet with Chang. When Chang saw his youthful
elegance, clean and light like jade, and that he was
dignified in manner, self-confident and poised, he truly
respected him. When they talked about literature, the
student’s critical acuity became clear. Hua had never
heard the like before. Then they talked of the three
histories,1 investigated the hundred philosophies,
discussed obscure passages in Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu,
elucidated the arcane meaning of the Feng and Ya sections
of the Shih ching, embraced the ten sages,2 plumbed the
three factors,3 probed the eight schools of Confucianism,4

1 The Shih chi, Han shu and Tung-kuan Han-chi (a history of
the Later Han compiled by Pan Ku and others, Tung-kuan
being the name of the hall where the compilation took
place).–Ed.

2 The ten disciples of Confucius: Yen Hui (Tzu-ylian), Min
Hsiin (Tzu-ch’ ien) , Jan Keng (Po-niu) , Jan Yung
(Ch’ung-kung) , Chai Yii (Tzu-wo), Tuan-mu Ssu (Tzu-kung),
Jan Ch’iu (Tzu-yu), Chung Yu (Tzu-lu), Yen Yen (Tzu-yu),
and Pu Shang (Tzu-hsia).–Ed.

3 Heaven, Earth, and Man.–Ed.
u Those related to the names of Tzu-chang, Tzu-ssu, Yen,

102 Classical Chinese Tales i

and examined the five rites.5 Hua was always bested.
Sighing, he said, “How could there be a youth like this

in the world? If he is neither a ghost nor goblin, then he
is surely a fox!” Chang then stationed men to guard him,
even as he was receiving him as his guest.

“You ought to revere the worthy and embrace the masses,”
said the student, “and treat well the good while pitying
the incapable. But instead, you hate others who are
learned. Mo-tzu loved all. Would he act like this!”
Having finished his speech, he sought to leave, but Hua had
already set men at the doors, and he could not get out.

He then addressed Hua once again, “There are men and
horsemen stationed at your gates. That must mean you are
suspicious of me. I fear that in the future men of the
world will keep their tongues to themselves. Wise scholars
and clever counselors will glance at your gates but will
not come in. I find this possibility deeply regretable for
you.” Hua did not even reply, but put his men even more on
their guard.

In time, Prefect Lei Huan of Feng-ch’eng [modern
Nan-ch’ang County, Kiangsi], styled K’ung-chang, a scholar
of profound knowledge, came to visit Hua. When Hua told
him about the scholar, K’ung-chang said, “if you are
suspicious, why not call the hunting dogs to test him?”
And so Hua ordered the hunting dogs out for a test.

With no expression of fear whatsoever, the fox said, “I
am by nature talented and knowledgeable, but now for some
reason you consider me an evil spirit and try to test me
with dogs. Even if you should test me, could I be
worried?”

When Hua heard this, he became even more angry. “This
must truly be an evil genius,” he said. “I’ve heard that
forest goblins fear dogs, but that dogs can only detect
creatures of up to a few hundred years of age. They cannot
discover thousand-year-old spirits. Only by getting a
thousand-year-old tree and illuminating the creature with
it can its true form be made apparent.” “How can we find a
thousand-year-old spirit tree?” asked K’ung-chang. “It is
said that the memorial post in front of the tomb of King
Chao of Yen is already a thousand years old,” replied Hua.
He then sent someone to chop down the wooden post.

Meng, Ch’i-tiao, Chung-liang, Sun, and Yueh-cheng.–Ed.
5 The rites of sacrifice, marriage, burial, and diplomatic
and military protocol.–Ed.

The Six Dynasties 103

When the servant was about to reach the place where the
post was, a small child clad in green appeared from nowhere
and inquired of the servant, “Why have you come here?” “A
youth came to visit Minister Chang,” said the servant. “He
is of extraordinary talent and has a way with words. The
suspicion is that the youth is an evil goblin, and I have
been sent to obtain this memorial post with which to
illuminate him.” “So, the old fox was not so wise after
all,” said the green-clad one. “He didn’t listen to me.
Now today his mistake has involved me as well. How can I
escape?” He let out a yell and began to cry; then suddenly
disappeared. When the servant cut down the post, blood
flowed.

He then returned with the tree, whereupon it was ignited
and used to illuminate the student. He turned out to be a
speckled fox.

“If these two creatures had not happened upon me,” said
Chang Hua, “They would not have met their match for another
thousand years!” They then cooked the fox.

(SSC 18/421; cf. TPKC, 442.11; Pai-hai version in SSHC, p.
90)

Tr. Michael Broschat

Note: See Introduction, Sec. IV, for a discussion of
this story. On Chinese legends of fox fairies, see J. J.
M. De Groot, The Religious System of China, vol 4 (Leyden,
1901), pp. 188-96; vol. 5 (Leyden, 1907), pp. 576-600; see
also Bodde, “Some Chinese Tales of the Supernatural.”

At this stage in the development of Chinese folklore,
fox fairies are generally regarded as inimical to humans.
In later representations, after the T’ang, they tend to
become friendly and to appear as females when they take up
the human form, often just to seduce men. In their
dealings with men, they often desire nothing more than love
and affection from them. In fact, they look suspiciously
like humans, and it is only their yearning for sexual
fulfillment that makes them “foxy.”

of the power of goats and sheep from the early medical text The Di-

vine Farmer’s Classic of Remedies (Shennong bencaojing, late 3rd cent.

b.c.e.) where the horn of the Gu, a black ram, is recommended for

frightening o demons, tigers, and wolves as well as to eliminate

fright.22

12. C H A N G F U – B I R D ( C H A N G F U ) ij There is
a bird dwelling here on Foundation Mountain whose form resembles a chicken with three

heads, six eyes, six feet, and three wings. It is called the Changfu. Eating it will prevent sleep.23

13. N I N E – T A I L F O X ( J I U W E I H U ) E¿∞ Three hundred li farther

east is Green-Hills Mountain, where much jade can be found on its south slope and green

cinnabar on its north. There is a beast here whose form resembles a fox with nine tails. It

makes a sound like a baby and is a man-eater. Whoever eats it will be protected against

insect-poison (gu).24 The ancient Chinese greatly feared a kind of poison man-

8 8 P L A T E I V

13

15

12

14

11

Garfield的 iPad

Garfield的 iPad

Garfield的 iPad

ufactured from insects known as gu. The graph appears as early as the Shang oracle-

bone inscriptions and is a picture of three virulent insects in a container stinging one

another, a process that yields an extremely toxic substance. Its many uses and knowl-

edge of its antidotes were associated with wu-shamans and others who were considered

masters of black magic.25 Nine-Tail Foxes were generally regarded as auspicious crea-

tures. In one ancient myth, Yu the Great was seeking an omen that he marry and en-

countered a white fox with nine tails, which he interpreted as a sign that he would be

successful. This fox sometimes appears in Han art along with the Queen Mother of the

West [nos. 65, 275] in her later role as a goddess of immortality at Mount Kunlun. Ac-

cording to the Debates in the White Tiger Hall (Baihutong, late 1st cent. c.e.), the fox’s

nine tails symbolize abundant progeny.26

14. G U A N G U A N – B I R D ( G U A N G U A N ) ÈÈ There is a bird here on

Green-Hills Mountain whose form resembles a dove and that makes a sound like a man

shouting. It is called the Guanguan. Wearing a part of it from the belt will prevent mental

confusion.27 The Compendium of Mr. Lü considered this bird’s flesh a delicacy

when roasted. The poet Tao Qian (365–427) also celebrated this bird in the twelfth of

his “Thirteen Poems upon Reading the Guideways through Mountains and Seas” (Du

shanhaijing shisan shou, 422):

On Green-Hills Mountain is a unique bird

That speaks and appears of its own accord.

It was born to help those in confusion,

Not to caution the Noble Man.28

15. R E D R U – F I S H ( C H I R U ) ™a The Eminent River flows forth from

Green-Hills Mountain southward into Carp-Wings Lake. Many Red Ru-Fish are found in

the lake. It has the basic form of a fish with a human face and makes a sound like a man-

darin duck. Eating it will prevent scabies.29 According to another version

noted by Guo Pu, eating it will protect against epidemics.30

P L A T E V

16. M O U N T A I N G O D ( S H E N ) ´ The ten mountains from the first peak,

Shaking Mountain in the Magpie Mountains to Winnower-Tail Mountain, extend 2,950

li in length. The gods of these mountains all have the form of a bird’s body with a dragon’s

head. The proper sacrifice to them is an animal of a single color and the burial of a jade

blade. The grain o ering is glutinous rice along with a jade disc and unhulled rice. White

reeds should be used for the ceremonial mats.31 The gods of each of the guide-

ways in the Guideways through Mountains form distinct groups and often share simi-

lar physical features. They must be sacrificed to by representatives of the government,

by the local people, and especially by travelers. In earliest times, such a airs were prob-

ably carried out by wu-shamans and other ritual specialists. In the background of the

illustration is the tip of a roof, which is the artist’s anachronistic vision of a sacrificial

temple reflecting the later, more elaborate architectural style of temples. In ancient China,

such local altars and shrines were more likely outdoor stages or simple structures.

P L A T E S I V – V 8 9

4- T a n g Ta l es (ch ua n – q i)
J1i
D u r i n g t h e Ta n g , a n o l d trad i t i o n of p rose a n ecdotes was tra n sfo r m e d i nto a fu l l y
dev e l o p e d fictio n a l fo r m , l ater k n o w n as chuan-qi-“tra n s m i tt i n g accou nts of re­
m a r k a b l e th i n g s . ” A l t h o u g h the m aj o r ity of s u c h sto r i e s treated some for m of t h e s u ­
p e r n atu r a l , t h e re w e r e a l so p u re l y h u m a n l ove sto r i e s a n d tal e s o f h e ro i s m . O n e o f
t h e m o s t c o m m o n types c o m b i n e d t h e s u p e r n atu r a l w i t h t h e l ove story o r erot i c e n ­
c o u n te r .

A c o m m o n c o n c e r n i n ta l e s of l ove was fa i t h k e p t a n d fai t h b ro k e n . B y keep i n g
fa i t h w i t h a n ot h er, a c reatu re o f t h e s p i r i t wor l d c ou l d r i s e t o t h e l ev e l o f a h u m a n
b e i n g , a n d b y b re ak i n g fa i t h a h u m a n b e i n g c ou l d s i n k t o t h e besti a l . T h e m o d e l o f
s u c h rel ati o n s h i ps i s p ra g m a t i c a n d e c o no m i c : e a c h p a rty g i ves s o m eth i n g esse n ­
t i a l , a n d so l o n g as accou n ts a r e b a l a n ce d , n o m ec h a n i s m o f retr i b u t i o n i s set i nto
m ot i o n . I f, h o wever, o n e p a rty fai l s to pay b a c k w h at is g i v e n , the c o n seq u e n ces a re
d i re .

M a n y of t h e s e sto r i e s take p l ace i n C h an g – a n a n d g i ve u s a v i v i d p i ctu re o f l ife
i n t h e c i ty i n t h e e i gh t h a n d n i n t h c e n t u r y . O n e i m p o rta n t n a rrative d e v i c e fo r
putt i n g you n g h e roes i n t h e beds of you n g h e r o i n e s was C h a n g – a n ‘ s ward syste m ,
b y w h i c h t h e c i ty w a s d iv i d e d i n v a r i o u s ” q u arte r s , ” e a c h sepa rated from t h e others
b y wal l s that wo u l d b e l o cked at s u n set and opened o n l y at d a y b re a k . Anyone w h o
fou n d h i m s e l f i n a q u a rter oth e r t h a n h i s own a t d u s k w ou l d h ave t o stay t h e n i gh t .

Two Ta l es of Keep i n g F a i t h ,�-�

Sherr Ji-j i ( £1 . c a . 8 0 0 ) , ” Rerr’s Story ”
Ren was a woman of the werefolk.

5 1 8

And there was Wei Yin, now a lord governor, ninth i n seniority i n his
branch of the family, maternal grandson of Li Hui, the Prince of Xin-an.
Wei Yin was an undisciplined and wild young man, who loved to drink .

And there was his uncle’s sister’s husband, surnamed Zheng, though I
don’t recall his given name . In his early years Zheng had practiced the mar­
tial arts, and he too loved wine and pretty women. Being poor and without
family of his own, he lived as a dependent of his wife ‘ s family. Once he and
Wei Yin found one another, they were inseparable wherever they went.

In August of the summer of 7 5 0 , Wei Yin and Zheng were riding together
on the lanes of Chang-an on their way to a drinking p arty in the Xin-chang
Quarter. When they reached the southern part of the Xuan-ping Quarter,
Zheng excused himself for some reason or other and asked Wei Yin to go
on ahead by himself, saying that he, Zheng, would be along shortly. Wei

The Tang Dynasty

Yin then went off east riding his white horse, while Zheng rode his donkey
south into the no rth gate of the Sheng-ping Quarter . There he came upon
three women walking along the street, of whom the middle one, dressed in
white, was a rare beauty. No sooner did he see her than Zheng was infatu­
ated. He whipped his donkey now in front of her, now behind, always on
the point of bantering with her flirtatiously, but not daring. From time to
time the woman in white cast a sidelong glance at him, having understood
what was on his mind. Then Zheng j oked with her, ” And how is it that such
a beautiful woman as yourself is going on foot ? ” The woman in white
laughed, ” What can I do but go on foot if someone doesn’t loan me his
mount ? ” Zhang replied, ” This miserable mount is hardly an adequate al­
ternative to such a lovely person walking, but I will offer it to you at once.
I would b e quite content to follow you on foot . ”

They looked at each other and laughed out. As they went along to­
gether, he fell increasingly under her spell, and they gradually began to be­
have quite familiarly with one another. Zheng followed the women; and by
the time they reached the Le-you Gardens in the east, i t was already getting
dark. Here they came to a compound with earthen walls and a carriage gate.
The buildings inside were quite well built and properly proportione d. As the
woman in white was about to go in, she looked around and said, ” Wait here
for a little while. ” Then she went inside, l eaving one of her female bond­
servants in the open gate. The bondservant asked his name and family; and
after Zheng had told her, he asked of the woman in white. The servant an­
swered, ” Her name is Ren, and she is the twentieth in seniority. ”

After a short while he was invited in. Zheng tied his donkey at the gate
and left his cap on the saddle. He first met a woman in her thirties, who wel­
comed him. This was Ren’s elder sister. Rows of candles were lit, various
dishes set out, and cups of wine were raised in frequent toasts. Having
changed her attire, Ren came out. They drank until they were tipsy and very
merry. As the night drew on, they finally went to bed. Her features were cap­
tivating and her body was b eautiful. In the way she looked when s inging
and laughing and in all her movements there was a sensual loveliness that
was virtually not of this mortal world.

When it was almost dawn, R e n said, ” You had best go now. My broth­
ers are attached to the Music Academy, which is under the j urisdiction of
the Southern Guard Command. Early in the morning they will rise and go
out, so you cannot linger here . ” They agreed on a future meeting, and he
left.

Having set o u t , he c a m e to t h e ward gates, which had not y e t b e e n un­
barred. There was the shop of a Turkish pastryseller beside the gate, whose
owner was j ust then hanging up his lanterns and firing his ovens. Zheng went
in through the curtains to rest and sat down to wait for the drums that would
announce the opening of the gates . As a consequence he got to talking with
the shopowner, and p ointing to where h e had spent the night, Zheng asked
him, ” When you turn east from here, ther e’s a gate. Whose compound is
that ? ” The shopowner replied, ” That’s j ust wasteland surrounded by a bro-

5 1 9

Antho logy 0 f Chinese Literature

5 2 0

ken-down wall-there a r e no buildings there . ” Zheng said, ” But I j ust passed
by the place-how can you say that there ‘ s nothing there ? ” and he argued
with the m an stubbornly. Then the shopowner realized, ” Ah ! now I under­
stand. There i s a fox there that often seduces men to spend the night with
her. I ‘ve already seen this happen a few times now. Are you another one who
has met her ? ” Zheng’ s face flushed and he didn’ t tell the truth: “No, no. ”

In full daylight he went back to look at the spot and did see the earthen
wall and carriage gate j ust as before; but when he peered inside, it was all
overgrown with scrub, with abandoned garden plots. After he got home, he
saw Wei Yin, who berated him for missing the party. Zheng didn’t let on
what had happened and excused himself with s ome other story. Neverthe­
less, he kept imagining Ren ‘ s sensual beauty, and the desire to see her again
remained unforgotten in his heart.

A dozen or so days passed. Zheng was out and going into a clothing store
in the Western Market when all at once he saw her, accompanied by her ser­
vants as before. Zheng instantly shouted to her. Ren turned to the side and
tried to lose herself i n a crowd to avoid him. But Zheng kept shouting to
her and pushed his way forward. Finally she stood with her back to him,
screening her face from his sight with a fan that she held around behind her.
“You know, so why do you come near me ? ” He answered, “I do know, but
I don’t care . ” She replied, ” The situation makes me very embarrassed. It’s
hard to look you in the face. ” Zheng then said, ” Since I think on you so in­
tently, how can you bear to reject me ? ” She replied, ” How could I dare re­
j ect you ? It’s j ust that I am afraid of being despised by you . ”

Zheng then swore a n o ath, and the import of what h e said was very mov­
ing. At this Ren turned her eyes to him and removed the fan, revealing the
same dazzling sensual b eauty that she had before. To Zheng, she said, ” I ‘ m
n o t t h e only o n e of m y k i n d in t h e human . .\Vorl d . Y o u j ust d o n ‘ t recognize
them . Don’t think of me as a singular fieak . ” When Zheng entreated her,
telling her o f his j oy in her, she replied, ” The only reason my kind i s despised
and loathed by human beings is because we are thought to harm people. I’m
not like that. I f you don’t despise me, I would want to s erve you all my days
as your wife . ” Zheng agreed and began to make plans where she could live.
Ren said, “To the east of this spot, where a large tree comes out from among
the roof beams, there is a quiet, secluded lane; you could rent a place there
for me to live. That man who went riding a white horse east from the south­
ern part of the Xuan-ping Quarter earlier-wasn’t he your legal wife ‘ s
brother ? H i s house h a s ample furniture a n d household goods that y o u could
borrow. ”

At the time Wei Yin’s uncle was serving in posts out in the provinces,
and three apartments’ worth of his household goods were kept in storage .
Following her suggestion, Zheng first went to inquire about the lodgings,
then went to see Wei Yin to borrow the household goods. When Wei asked
what h e wanted them for, Zheng said, “I have j ust gotten myself a beauti­
ful woman and have rented lodgings for her; now I need to borrow house-

The Tang Dynasty

hold goods to fix the place up. ” Wei Yin laughed . ” Considering your looks,
you must surely have gotten yourself a spectacularly ugly woman. How
could you possibly get a perfect beauty ? ”

After loaning him things like curtains, beds, and mats, Wei had a quick­
witted servant boy follow Zheng and spy out where he was going. In a short
time the lad rushed back to make his report, panting and streaming with
sweat. Wei Yin met him and asked, ” Was she there ? ” and further, ” What
did she look like ? ” The lad said, ” She is a wonder-the world has never seen
her like . ” Wei Yin’s family and kin were widely spread and numerous;
moreover, having gone on escapades since his early years, he ha d come to
have extensive grounds to make j u dgments of beauty. He then asked, ” Is
she as beautiful as so-and-so ? ” The lad answered, “That person is not of
her caliber . ” W e i Y i n brought up four or five beautiful women for com­
parison, and in each case the boy said, ” Not o f her caliber . ” At that time
Wei Yin’s sister-in-law, the sixth daughter o f the Prince of Wu, had a full
and sensual b e auty like that of a goddess, and both sides of the family had
always acclaimed her t h e foremost in b e auty. So W e i Y i n said, “Is she as
beautiful as the sixth daughter of the Prince of Wu ? ” And again the boy said,
“Not of her caliber . ” Wei Yin slapped his hand down in amazement. ” How
could there be such a person in the world ? ” He instantly ordered water to
b e drawn so that he could wash his neck, put his turban on, applied lip balm,
and set off.

Zheng happened to b e out when he arrived . On entering the gate, Wei
Yin saw a young servant boy holding a broom sweeping; there was a bond­
servant at the gate, but he saw no one else. He then asked information of
the s ervant boy, who laughed and said, “Ther e ‘ s no such person here . ” Wei
Yin was looking all around the inside of the rooms, when he caught sight
of a red skirt showing bene ath a door panel. He forced his way in to check
it out and saw Ren, who had curle d up to hide behind the door panel. Wei
Yin dragged her out, bringing her over into the light so he could take a l o o k
at her. S h e virtually exceeded w h a t he had been told. W e i Y i n wanted her
so much t h a t he behaved l i k e a madman. He threw his a r m s around her and
forced himself on her, but she would not submit. Wei Yin used h i s strength
to hold her fast, and when the situation became desperate, she said, ” I sub­
mit, but please loosen your grip a little . ”

When he did as she asked, she fought back as she had before. This hap­
pened several more times, until Wei Yin exerted all his strength to hold her
fast. Ren ‘ s own strength was exhausted, and she was sweating as if she had
been soaked by rain. Realizing that she couldn’t escape, she let her body relax
and didn’t resist any more, yet her expression changed to one of heartfelt
sadness. Wei Yin asked why, saying, ” How unhappy you look ! ” Ren gave
a long sigh. ” It’s j ust that I feel s orry for Zheng . ” Wei Yin said, “What do
you mean ? ” She replied, ” Zheng is six fee t tall yet is unable to protect one
woman-how can he be a real man ! You, sir, have led a life of wild excess
since your youth and have had many b eautiful women-a multitude of

5 2 1

Anthology of Chinese Literature

those you have encountered have been comparable in beauty to me. Yet
Zheng, who is poor and of humble background, has only myself to suit his
fancy. Can a heart that has had something in abundance b e so hardened as
to plunder the same from someone who does not have enough ? I feel sorry
for his p overty and want, that he is unable to stand on his own. He wears
your clothes and eats your food, and thus he is bound by you. If he could
provide even simple food for himself, he should not be brought to this . ” In
Wei Yin’s d omineering arrogance there was some sense of j ustice. Hearing
what she had said, he immediately set her down, and straightening his
clothes, he apologized, saying, “I can’t do this . ”

A short time later Zheng arrived, and looking a t Wei Yin, h e beamed
with j oy . From that point on, Wei Yin provided Ren with all her firewood,
grain, and meat. Now and then Ren would stop by. In her comings and go­
ings she would sometimes go by carriage, sometimes ride a horse, sometimes
travel in a sedan chair, and sometimes walk-her choice was not uniform.
Wei Yin would go about with her every day, and be extremely happy to do
so; the two grew very familiar and intimate with one another, and there were
no barriers between them, except for sexual intimacy. Wei Yin came to love
her and honor her. He begrudged her nothing, and at every meal and every
time he drank, she never left his thoughts. Ren knew that he loved her, so
she a pologized to him. “I am ashamed to be loved by you so much, but this
poor b o dy is inadequate to answer your generous feeling. I cannot betray
Zheng, thus I cannot accommodate myself to your pleasure. I am from this
region of Qin, and I grew up in this, Qin’s greatest city. My family is one of
entertainers, and many of my relations on both sides have been kept as con­
cubines . For this reason I am well acquainted with all the winding lanes of
Chang-an’s pleasure quarters . There may be some beautiful and pleasing
young girl who has not yet been taken-letfue bring one for you. For I want
by this to repay your goodness . ” Wei Yin said, “What good luck ! ” In the
bazaar there was a woman who sold clothes called Miss Zhang, with smooth
and bright skin. Wei Yin had always been attracted to her, so he asked Ren
if she knew her. Ren replied, ” That is my cousin. It will be an easy matter
to bring her to you . ” And after about two weeks she finally bro ught her .

A few months later, Wei Yin grew tired of her and dismissed her. Ren
then said, ” The women of the marketplace are easy to procure and not worth
much effort. If there is someone absolutely out of reach, someone hard to
devise a plot to get hold of, j ust tell me-for I want to be able to use all my
strength and wit in this . ” Wei Yin then said, ” D uring this most recent Cold
Food Festival I was visiting Thousand Blessings Temple along with a few
other comp anion s . l There I saw a musical p erformance arranged by Gen­
eral Diao Mian in the great hall. There was a skilled flageolet player of about
sixteen years of age, her hair done in a pair of coils that hung down to her
ears . She had an air of sweetness about her and was utterly desirable. Do

‘The Cold Food Festival was a s p r i n g festival in w h i c h the u s e o f fire was fo r b i d d e n .

522

The Tang Dynasty

you know her, by chance ? ” Ren replied, ” That is Chong-nu. Her mother is,
in fact, a cousin of mine. It’s possible to go after her . ” Wei bowed to her
with respect, and Ren promised him.

Ren then began to pay frequent visits to the Diao household. After some­
what more than a month, Ren wanted two bolts of the highest grade silk to
use as a bribe. Wei Yin provided these. Two days later, Ren was dining with
Wei when Diao Mian sent a servant leading a black steed to bring Ren to
see him. On hearing this summons, she said to Wei Yin with a smile, ” It ‘ s
worked . ” Earlier R e n had given Chong-nu something t h a t m a d e h e r grow
sick , an illness that neither acupuncture nor medicines could reliev e . Her
mother and Diao Mian were extremely worried about her and were going
to summon a soothsayer . Ren secretly bribed the soothsayer, and pointing
out where she lived, she ordered him to say that it would b e lucky to trans­
fer her there. After examining the illness, the soothsayer said, ” It is not ad­
vantageous for her to b e in this house; she should go reside at such-and-such
a place to the southeast where she will obtain quickening life forces. ” When
Diao Mian and the girl’s mother made a thorough survey of the location, it
turned out that Ren’s residence was in the area. Diao Mian consequently
asked that Chong-nu be allowed to stay there. Ren made a pretense of ob­
j e cting on the grounds that her house was small and cramped, and agreed
only after they entreated her earnestly. Then Chong-nu, with all her clothes
and ornaments carried in litters and accompanied by her mother, was sent
to Ren ‘ s . When she got there, her sickness got b etter. Just a few days later
Ren s ecretly led Wei Yin to her, and he had intercourse with her. After a
month she was pregnant. Her mother was frightened and immediately took
her back to Diao Mian’s, from which point the affair was over.

On another occasion Ren said to Zheng, ” Would you be able to get five
or six thousand cash? I have a scheme to make you a profit. ” Zheng said,
” All right ” ; and by going to borrow money from people, he got six thou­
sand cash. Ren then said, ” In the market there is someone selling a horse
with something w”rong with one of its legs . Buy it, take it home, and take
care of it. ” Zheng went to the market and at last saw a man leading a horse
and looking for a buyer. There was a flaw on one of its left legs. Zheng
b ought it and took it b ack home with him. His wife ‘ s brothers all ridiculed
him, saying, ” That creature was j ust something someone was trying to get
rid of. Why did you buy it ? ” Not long afterward Ren said, ” Sell the horse
now. You should get thirty thousand cash for it. ” Zheng then went to offer
the horse for sale. When someone offered him twenty thousand cash, Zheng
refused to part with it. The whole market was saying, ” What problem does
the first man have that he is willing to spend so much, and why does the
other man love the horse s o much that he won’t sell ? ” Zheng rode the horse
back home, and the man who had wanted to buy it followed after him, re­
peatedly raising his offer until it reached twenty-five thousand. Zheng, how­
ever, would not part with it, s aying, “I won’t sell it for less than thirty thou­
sand. ” His wife ‘ s brothers all crowded around and berated him; unable to

523

Anthology of Chinese Literature

maintain himself against them, he sold it, never getting the full thirty thou­
sand.

Afterward he secretly confronted the buyer and asked him why he had
been willing to pay s o much. It turned out that one of the imperial horses
kept in Zhao-ying Co unty had something wrong with one of its legs . This
horse had died three years ago, and the functionary in charge had not
promptly taken it off the official records. The government office had sent
an allowance for its upkeep totaling sixty thousand cash, and he speculated
that if he were to buy another for half that amount, he would still be reap­
ing a handsome profit. If there were a horse to make the full complement,
then the functionary would get its entire allowance for fodder and grain. And
since what he would have to pay would be less than he made, he bought it.

Since her own clothes were old and frayed , Ren also asked Wei Yin for
clothe s . Wei was going to buy whole bolts o f cloth to give her, but she did­
n’t want that: “I want to get clothes that are ready-made . ” Wei Yin then
called s omeone from the market, Old Zhang, to make the purchases for her,
and he had Zhang meet Ren to find out what she wanted. When he saw her,
Zhang was alarmed and said to Wei Yin, ” This woman has to b e a goddess
o r someone related to the imperial house whom you have secretly carried
off. She is not someone who should b e kept in the mortal world. I urge you
to send her b ack as quickly as possible b efore some disaster b efalls you. ”
That was how much her beauty could stir people. In the end he found ready­
made clothes for her, and she did not sew them herself. He did not, how­
ever, understand why.

More than a year later, Zheng was selected for a military post and was
appointed assistant director for military �ffairs of the Huai-li district, which
was in Jin-cheng C()unty. Since Zheng had a legal wife and household, he
might go out for the day, but he always slept home at night. It always upset
him that he could not have Ren with him every night. When he was a b out
to leave to take up his post, he invited Ren to go along with him. Ren did
not want to go: ” Traveling together for weeks on end cannot be considered
a pleasure. Please j ust estimate how much will keep me provided with meat
and grain, and I will stay here as always, awaiting your return . ” Zheng en­
treated her e arnestly, but she grew only less willing. Zheng then sought out
Wei Yin to provide help in persuading her, and to gether they urged her once
again and questioned her on her reasons for refusing. After a long time Ren
said, “A soothsayer said that it would be unlucky for me to travel west this
year, and that’s why I don’t want to go. ” Zheng was completely infatuated
with her and could think o f nothing else. Together with Wei Yin he laughed,
saying, “How can you be so intelligent, yet be led astray by such mumbo­
j umbo ? ” They stuck to their request, and Ren said, “If by chance the sooth­
sayer ‘s words prove true, what good will it do if I die for you for nothing ? ”
And b oth of them said, ” How could this happen ? ” -and they pleaded as
earnestly as b efore. Unable to have her own way in this, Ren went. Wei Yin
loaned her a horse and held a parting banquet for them at Lin-gao, waving
his arms to them as they went off on their way.

524

Th e Tang Dynasty

After two days of travel, they reached Ma-wei . Ren was riding her horse
in front, and Zheng was riding his donkey b ehind. Further b ehind, the two
women s ervants were riding apart. At that time the Imperial Groom of the
West Gate had been hunting with his dogs for ten days in Luo River County,
and he happened to meet them on the road. One of his dark gray dogs leaped
out from among the grasses, and Zheng saw Ren fall to the ground in a flash,
reverting to her original shape and running s outh. The gray dog chased her .

, Zheng ran after it shouting, b).lt he couldn’t stop it. After a little more than
a league the dog caught her.

With tears in his eyes, Zheng took money from his purse and paid to have
her buried. And he had a piece of wood carved as the grave marker. When
he went back, he saw her horse grazing on the grasses beside the road. Her
clothes were left draped on the saddle, and her shoes and stockings were still
hanging in the stirrups, as if a cicada had metamorphosed from its shell.
Nothing else was to b e seen but her hair ornaments, which had fallen to the
ground. The two women servants were also gone .

After a little more than ten days, Zheng returned to the city. Wei Yin
was delighted to see him and greeted him, asking, ” No harm has come to
Ren, has there ? ” Zheng’s eyes streamed with tears as he replied, ” She ‘ s
dead . ” Hearing this, Wei Yin was stricken with grief, and the two men
clasped one another there in the room, giving full expression to their sor­
row. Softly Wei asked the cause of her death, and Zheng replied, ” Sh e was
killed by a dog. ” Wei Yin then said, “H owever fierce a dog may be, how
could it kill a human b eing ? ” Zheng answered, ” It was not a human being . ”
Wei Yin was shocked. ” What d o y o u mean, ‘not a human being’ ? ” Then
Zheng told him the whole story from beginning to end. Wei Yin was amazed
and could not stop sighing. On the next day, he ordered a carriage to be made
ready and went off with Zheng to Ma-wei. H e opened her tomb, looked at
her, and went back feeling a lingering unhappiness. When he thought back
on all that had happened, only the fact that she did not make her own clothes
was rather strange in comparison to human b eings.

Afterward Zheng served as a supervisor-general, and his household b e ­
c a m e very wealthy, with o v e r t e n h o r s e s in h i s stables. H e died at t h e a g e of
sixty-five.

During the D a-li Reign, 1, Shen Ji-ji, was living in Zhong-ling and used
to go a bout wi th Wei Yin. Wei told this story often, with the resul t tha t I
learned many of the details. Later Wei Yin became Palace Censor, as well
as Prefect of Long-zhou, where he died without returning to the capital .

I am struck that s u c h humanity c o u l d b e found in t h e feelings of a crea­
ture so alien. When someone used violent force on her, she did not a ban­
don her principles, and she met her death by sacrificing herself for someone
else. Among women today there are those who are not her equal. It is un­
fortunate that Zheng was not a perceptive man, merely attracted b y her
beauty and not seeing the evidence of her nature. Supposing there had been
some scholar of profound discernment, he would surely have been able to
investigate the principles in such a transformation, to discern the lines of dis –

5 2 5

Anthology of Chinese Literature

tinction between human beings and spirits, to write it out in a beautiful style,
and thus to transmit such subtle feelings to posterity-he would not limit
himself to j ust savoring her good looks and a love story. It is a pity !

In 7 8 1 , I left my post as Reminder of the Left and was going to Wu. Gen­
eral Pei Ji, the Vice Governor of Chang-an Sun Cheng, the D irector of the
Ministry of Revenue Cui Xu, and the Reminder of the Right Lu Chun all
happened to be going to live in the Southeast. In the j ourney from Qin to
Wu we all followed the same route, both land and water. At the time, the
former Reminder Zhu Fang was also traveling, and he went along with us.
We floated down the Ying River and then the Huai, our double boat car­
ried along by the current. By day we would feast and at night tell stories,
with each of us presenting strange tales. When these gentlemen heard of the
events surrounding Ren, all were deeply touched and amazed. As a conse­
quence, they asked me to transmit it as an account of strange things.

-Written by Shen Ji-j i

T r u e s e l f- s a c r i f i c e i s most often fo u n d i n wo m e n , b u t a n s we r i n g devot i o n i n m e n i s
a l so a c k n o w ledged . F ro m ” R e n ‘ s Sto ry, ” i t m a y seem t h at a l ove affa i r w i t h a c rea­
t u re from beyo n d the h u m a n wor l d was a safe u n d e rta k i n g ; but Re n ‘ s su r p r i s e on
fi n d i n g t h at Zheng sti l l wa nted h e r, in s p i te of the fact that she was a we re-fox, was
m o re in keep i n g with c o n v e nt i o n a l w i s d o m that m i scege n a t i o n with s u p e r n atu ra l
b e i n gs o r g h osts was b a d fo r o n e ‘ s h e a l t h a n d fo rt u n e . Neverth e l ess, a w i l l i n g ness
to b rave such a p ro h i b i t i o n m i g h t be as m u c h a p roof of l ove a n d rec i p rocat i n g fa ith
as of overwh e l m i n g l u st, as see m s to h ave been t h e case w i t h Z h e n g .

5 2 6

Li Jing-liang ( fl . 794 ) , ” Li Zhang-wu’ s Story”

The ancestry of Li Zhang-wu, otherwise known as Li Fei, was traced to the
Zhong-shan region. From his earliest years he was intelligent and well in­
formed, and whatever happened he knew what to do. He was, moreover, a
skilled stylist, and his writings always reached the height of perfection. Al­
though he had a high opinion of his own achievements in improving him­
self, he abhorred putting on airs. He was of a refined and handsome ap­
pearance and was genial to those who approached him. He was a good friend
of one Cui Xin of Qing-he, another cultured gentleman and a co llector of
antiquities. Because of Zhang-wu’ s astute intelligence, Cui Xin would often
seek him out for discussions; together they penetrated the most subtle mys­
teries and thoroughly investigated questions. Contemporaries compared
Zhang-wu to Zhang Hua of the Jin Dynasty.

In the year 7 8 7 , Cui Xin had taken the post of administrative aide to the
prefect of Hua-zhou, and Zhang-wu came from Chang-an to visit him. Sev­
eral days later he was out walking, and saw a very beautiful woman on the
northern avenue of the market. He then concocted a story, telling Cui Xin
that he had to have some dealings with an old friend outside the city. He
next rented lodgings in the beautiful woman’s home. The master of the house
was named Wang, and the woman was his daughter-in-law. Zhang-wu was

Harvard University Asia Center

Chapter Title: Conclusion

Book Title: Alien Kind
Book Subtitle: Foxes and Late Imperial Chinese Narrative
Book Author(s): Rania Huntington
Published by: Harvard University Asia Center. (2003)
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~!

Conclusion

My title, “Alien Kind,” alludes to foxes as both an alien species and a
peculiar category. As Ji Yun so memorably affirmed, that peculiarity
lies in their liminal position. Other cultures feel the same need for a
“middle” category of alien, but the exact parameters of liminality dif-
fer. The important axes of middleness are morality, power, and prox-
imity. The “middle people” are neither inherently benign nor in-
nately malign; rather, they are morally ambivalent. They have powers
that humans do not, but these powers are finite and are balanced by
weaknesses. Since their habitat intersects at least partially with our
own, they brush against humans much more often than creatures en-
sconced in entirely separate worlds. In this Conclusion, I compare
foxes to some of these other “middle people” in order to throw Chi-
nese concepts of the alien and the human into sharper relief and to
return to the question of the relationship between species of super-
natural beings and the genres in which they are depicted.

Because of the wealth of material and the parallel complications of
folklore collection and literary adaptation, I will compare foxes pri-
marily to Western European (mostly German, English, and Irish)
fairies and elemental spirits. The following discussion is guilty
of oversimplification, since it conflates different periods of European
fairylore and Chinese foxlore, although the range in time, from
the fifteenth through the nineteenth century, remains roughly paral-
lel. Fairies share a great many roles with late imperial foxes: the
household protective spirit, often providing favors in exchange for a

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Conclusion

humble offering of food, like the English brownie or Scandinavian

tomte; the mischievous kobold, who torments households; the fatal

lover; and the grateful supernatural creature. Some plots, such as the

tale of a midwife summoned to an unearthly household in the middle

of the night to deliver a child, are virtually identical in the two tradi-

tions.1 I do not think these tales are direcdy related; rather, these

parallel niches suggest that distinct societies have similar chinks in

the familiar, where the alien can approach. Not only are there paral-

lels in the narrative niches these species fill, but there are parallels in
the explanations of their place in the universe.

EXPLAINING THE MIDDLE SPECIES:

PARACELSUS AND JI YUN

Particularly striking parallels with Ji Yun’s attempts to rationalize the
difficult in-between position of foxes are found in Liber de nymphis,

sylphis, pygmalis, et salamandris by the fifteenth-century German phi-

losopher Paracelsus. His “in-between” figures are the spirits of the

four elements: nymphs for water, sylphs for air, pygmies for earth,

and salamanders for fire. To a certain extent, he was a defender of

these creatures and endeavored to delineate their differences from

both demons and human beings. Because he derived his concept of

these creatures by applying logical principles to received folk mate-
rial, from the outset his task, as well as his sympathetic stance, was
very similar to Ji Yun’s.

Like Ji Yun, Paracelsus also felt that he had to justify writing

about marvels; he argued that marvels are more worthy of description

than the court, for they are the works of God as opposed to the

works of men. The pretext that one can use the bizarre to observe the

· wonders of God’s creation is not unlike Ji’s claim that one can exam-

ine universal principle through the strange just as well as through the

I. Examples for foxes include “Hu taitai” i!if.j:;t:;t, in Xu Kun, Liuya waibian
(1793 ed.)juan 12; and “Baita si”B~~’ in Li Qingchen, Zuicha zhiguai, 3.365. The

parallels suggest that for both cultures, midwifes were liminal creatures themselves,

summoned to serve in households of varying social status; and childbirth was a

charmed moment, when the worlds could mix.

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Conclusion

ordinary. For both men, an apparently peripheral topic of dubious
morality is central to a universal moral project.

According to Paracelsus, the elemental spirits fall between men
and ghosts. Their flesh is different from man’s, in that it is not solid
and can pass through matter; but they are like human beings in that
they eat, drink, and bear children, as ghosts do not. They are a mix
of ghost and human, like two colors mixed together or a sweet and
sour flavor. 2 They are, however, neither ghost nor human. Since they
have no soul, when they die, they are like animals, extinguished for-
ever. Paracelsus compared them to apes, the closest animals to hu-
mans, but in general they are above the animals. “Thus they are peo-
ple, but die with the animals, change with the ghosts, and eat and
drink with men. . . . Their customs and gestures are human, as are
their speaking and appearance, and all their virtues, the better and
the cruder, the subtler and the grosser.” They cross two of the same
borderlines, between man and ghost and man and beast, that Ji
sketched in his introduction to the fox. Like foxes, they resemble
human beings as closely as possible. Paracelsus also emphasized their
internal variety just as Ji Yun’s various fox spokesmen did. “They are
smart and rich, understanding, poor, or foolish, like we descendants
of Adam: they are made in our image just as we are made in the im-
age of God.”3

Paracelsus explained the stories of romances between humans and
elves or nymphs using the same logic: they (apparently exclusively the
females) strive to unite with men just as men strive to unite with
God. This justification seems to share the desperate quality of a
vixen’s pursuit of a human lover and a human self. As we have seen
in the discussion ofYingning and Undine, in both cultures alien fe-
males can become almost human through matrimony. As is true for

2. Paracelsus. Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris, p. 13-14. All
translations from the German are my own. Cf. Kirk, The Secret Commonwealthes of
Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, p. I; Kirk places the fairies between men and angels.

3· Paracelsus, Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris, p. 15. Note how
the Western comparison has three levels, the other, man, and God, whereas the
Chinese has only two, man and the other. This fits well with distinctions made be-
tween Chinese and Western allegory; in the Chinese case there is not an essential
comparison between the human world and the divine. See Plaks, Archetype and Alle-
gory in Dream of the Red Chamber.

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Conclusion

foxes in most cases, the children they bear men are human, with hu-
man souls; sometimes even the mothers win souls through their ties
to men.4 Paracelsus defended the integrity of these relationships: a
man married to a spirit should remain loyal to her.

5 But unlike Ji,
who refused to focus on the romance with an alien woman exclu-
sively, Paracelsus enshrined it at the heart of his explanation of the
spec1es.

The most obvious difference between the two traditions is the ab-
solute division in the West between the possession and the lack of a
soul. On that question there can be no in-between for Paracelsus, al-
though these creatures are as close as conceivable to a borderline
case. Although they have human understanding, they need not fol-
low God because they have no soul. Ji could not ~dmit such a moral
exemption. The soul allows Paracelsus to put a final limitation on the
elemental spirits’ imitation of humanity, since all of their other at-
tainments are rendered meaningless by this one missing quality. It is
this limitation that gives them their meaning: they prove to humans
how we have been favored with the gift of a soul. The fact they can-
not become human reminds us that we in turn cannot become gods.

6

This general case, which highlights both our privilege and our limi-
tation, sets off the special case of the fairy bride, who is like us in her
passionate aspiration to transcend her origins.

The Chinese tradition has no such absolute answer to the ques-
tion of what makes men unique. Buddhist ideas of reincarnation
serve to blur the boundaries between species; the afterlife becomes
the point at which men and beast can be confused, not distinguished.
In Daoist visions, humans themselves can effectively change species
to become transcendents. Yet although the boundaries of humanity
seem on the surface less clearly drawn in the Chinese case, they are
not entirely permeable. Foxes reincarnated as humans are used, pri-
marily in vernacular fiction, as a device to explain exceptional sexual
appetites, as is the case for Hede in Zhaoyang qushi, or extraordinary
desire for revenge, as in Xingshi yinyuan zhuan, and not as a means of
considering the boundaries of humanity. The human fallen to fox

4· Paracelsus, Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris, p. 24.
5· Ibid., p. 3I.
6. Ibid., p. r6.

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Conclusion 327

form, regaining human form again after centuries of work, is more
co:mmon: but in this case, the human story, narrated by the fox, gives
an elevated justification to typical fox actions, be it an attempt to pass
oneself off as human in a community of monks or a sexual liaison?
Species identity in former lives provides motivation, but it does not
reshape identity in this life. As for Daoist advancement, allowing
foxes to skip over humanity altogether and become xian sidesteps the
issue of whether foxes can become truly human.

The question of whether the boundary between humanity and the
other can dissolve is the fundamental tension in Qing zhiguai: the
marvelous has become so common, so close, and so familiar, with the
demon lover becoming the good housewife, that the distinction is on
the verge of dissolving even though it cannot be allowed to dissolve.
The fox, ever the confounding in-between, is the embodiment of this
problem. Despite what appears to be a dramatic difference between
species defined by the presence or the absence of a soul, with death
as the moment of truth, as opposed to species defined by the wheel
of rebirth and the ladder of cultivation, the rhetorical uses of the self-
improving fox are similar to the double meaning of the elemental
spirits: the diligent fox, starting in a burrow and aspiring to the heav-
ens, reminds us of human striving, human superiority, and human
limitation.

Paracelsus’ analysis brings us back to the questions of theory and
practice discussed in Chapter 2. Cultural differences dictate a differ-
ent relationship between theory and practice for Paracelsus, or for
Robert Kirk (ca. r65r-92), the author of The Secret Commonwealthes
of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, than for Chinese authors. The first sys-
tematic theories on the middle people in the European context are to
a greater or lesser extent responding to the theorizing of demonology
and explanations of witchcraft. Both Paracelsus and Kirk are setting
fairies or elementals apart from demons, already an object of organ-
ized attention, and the men who have commerce of various sorts
with them apart from witches. There are two reasons for this focused
attention. First, weird and sinister species reflect more critically
on a single omnipotent creator than they do on a system of natural

7· On the link between the transformed fox and repentance, see Heine, Shifting
Shape, Shaping Text, pp. r66-75.

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Conclusion

principle, a factor that compelled the Europeans to provide more sys-

tematic explanations. Second, ties between humans and inhuman be-

ings were more threatening to the European social order, which cre-

ated important judicial genres for perceiving the supernatural, such as

confessions of witchcraft, and theorizing on the nature and limita-

tions of the crime; these were much less common in China.
8

Just as Paracelsus systematized received lore, so his theorizing,

centuries later, inspired authors of the literary fairy tale. From the

Chinese perspective, this would be as if Ji Yun’s unified fox theories

came first and Pu Songling’s romances later. Additionally, there is a

crucial difference in the publishing climate and perceptions of his-

torical change. “When Fouque, about fifty years Ji Yun’s junior, read

Paracelsus, he perceived a far greater cultural gap in the four hundred

years that had elapsed thanJi Yun did when he read Hong Mai, who

predated him by six centuries. Fouque was inspired to reinterpret

Paracelsus’ ideas to fit his own times; Ji believed he was working in

Hong Mai’s tradition, albeit after an interruption of generic devi-

ance. In Chinese terms, most European histories of the literary fairy

tale begin in the last century of the Ming, without the sense of a ge-

neric history stretching back a millennium.

HUMAN AND ANIMAL, NATURE AND CULTURE

One obvious difference between foxes and European fairies is that

between an ambitious quadruped and a (or several) humanoid spe-

cies. Many subspecies of fairies can take animal shape or have some

physical attributes of animals, but they are not seen as animals them-

selves. This is related to another glaring difference: in Europe people

can descend to animal form through illness or curse, whereas in East

Asia animals more often assume human form.
9 This seems related to

the lower status of animals in Europe based on the insurmountable

boundary of the soul. In the European context, human shape is

something humans can lose (although the demonologists argue that

8. In the Chinese case, it is sorcery with human perpetrators, especially in organ-

ized groups, that is more threatening than any interference of ghosts or demons it-

self; see Kuhn, Sou/stealers, pp. 94-rr8.
9· The exception would seem to be the selkies or swan maidens, but still their

animal shape is viewed as clothing, concealing a human shape within.

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Conclusion

this is a demonic illusion, and that shapes never really change) but
not something animals can gain, even as an illusion. The beings clos-
est to humanity are primarily given hominid forms. Other than the
exceptional case of the fairy bride, descent is of more interest than
ascent. In East Asia, the vector of ascent is crucial, whether it is
genuine ascent or trickery honed with advancing age. With animals
available as the closest aliens to the human, the parallel hominid
races (like the sometimes hominid Wutong, who at least are not
clearly identified with a single animal species) fill fewer supernatural
niches.10

Paradoxically, however, it is the European fairies, not the Chinese
foxes, who are seen as representatives of wild nature as opposed to
human culture. This difference is founded on different understand-
ings of nature and culture, which, to overgeneralize crudely, were
separate and opposed spheres to a greater degree in Europe than they
were in China. The difference is determined by a romantic attitude
toward nature that gives accounts of fairies from the nineteenth cen-
tury on elegiac perspective, as signs of a natural world that was be-
coming lost to contemporary urban man. 11 In some of the Victorian
interpretations of fairies, the gap between fairies as the embodiment
of nature, as opposed to man, is made even clearer by emphasizing
their connections to plants and even inanimate elements rather than
to animals.

A concept of “elemental beings” requires a concept of fixed ele-
ments, which both form the substance of the sylphs and like and
provide their habitat. Humans alone are mixed beings. The Chinese
conception of elements as phases does not provide a similar, stable
bestiary. Foxes are clearly identified with yin, but even that is rela-
tive; this identification is not nearly as strong for them as it is for
ghosts. Foxes are not entirely different from us either in habitat or in
substance.

The stronger tie between fairies and wild nature is determined by
their habitat: only the domestic spirits, like brownies, are primarily
imagined indoors. The others are creatures of woods and fairy

ro. This is less true in Japan, where the more active roles are given to the hu-
manoid tengu and kappa; see Figal, Civilization and Monsters, pp. 83-83, 144-45.

II. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples, p. IO.

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330 Conclusion

mounds. And all of them are primarily rural; they do not move into

cities as the foxes do, although in both cultures gardens can be tran-

sitional spaces. In the Victorian era, it was left to poltergeists to

be urban.
As we have seen, the late imperial fox traveled far from its animal

roots. Such foxes are called chusheng tf1:_, “animals,” only in insults,
usually by exorcists asking how a beast could have the gall to violate

the order of the universe. When they refer to themselves, they some-

times use the term yilei.
12 Yilei, while more polite than “animal,” is

still an expression of distance: the true lover or friend of a fox does

not regard his companion as of an alien kind, and the fox uses the

term when imploring a human not to be estranged.
13 As the discus-

sion in the previous chapters has shown, the animal body of the fox

holds a different position in different parts of the fox tradition:

glimpsing a hairy shape is part of coexisting with a haunting fox, but

the fox body is not depicted in the images used in fox worship, and

in long tales of intimate relations with foxes, it is used sparingly, to

introduce moments of transition or revelation. The body of the beast

is not indispensable in any case.
By late imperial times, foxes were more closely related to human

culture than to anything outside it. This is not to say that there were

no anecdotes placing foxes in the woods and wilderness, but the ma-

jority of stories placed them closer to human setdement. Ji Yun made

the tie between foxes becoming monsters and Chinese culture overt

when he observed that the foxes of Xinjiang do not become mon-

sters. The project of self-improvement must be something they

learned from men.
14 Those foxes that are the least cultured and the

least human, the dark forms pressing down on sleeping humans or

the ones clattering about in the rafters, are explained as being either

responses to human flaws or creatures at the earliest stage of progress

and civilization. What is most important here, once again, is transi-

tion: foxes are always in the process of attaining culture. The stories

never hint of an independent existence, with the foxes burrowing

12. Qingfeng says ftilei :lf:~, “not of the same kind,” instead; see “Qingfeng,”

LZ, 1.112-18.
13. YWCT, 16.948, story 97·
14. YWCT, 6.263-64, story 264.

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Conclusion 331

in the ground or hunting mice out of our sight; the foxes speak only
of an anthropomorphized world of family and residence in various
places. A simulacrum of human culture has become their only
identity.

With fairies, there is more emphasis on their independent world,
with its trappings of royalty. Moreover, fairies steal human beings
to live with them in that world. Although men sometimes reside
with the foxes, lingering in their glamorous mansions, there are
only households, rather than an entire fairyland. Those who have al-
ready risen to become xian have a separate world, with its caves and
peaks, more like the European fairyland, but most often the xian en-
ters narrative by falling to this world for a liaison with a human. But,
more important, the man who lingers with the vixen in her home
does not stay permanently. The fox comes to her lover where he or
she is more often than it takes him or her away; and when the en-
counter with the other proves fatal, the human dies in his own home.

The idea of the changeling child, so central to English fairylore, is
absent in China.15 The sickly child is explained instead as a ghost,
reborn to collect a debt. With reincarnation, strangers can be directly
born in one’s household without any need for abduction and re-
placement. Although in older stories foxes occasionally substitute for
family members, that theme had waned in popularity by late imperial
times. More important, the fear in those stories was of false family
members indistinguishable from the true, rather than of children or
others who were obviously made strange. In late imperial China, it
was the clever concubine, the fortuitously forward lover, or the lodg-
ers in the next room who were suspected of being strange. Although
in both cultures, ties, especially sexual ties, with another world were a
way to explain physical and psychiatric afflictions in the young men
and women of a family, the difference between the human who has
“been away” and the one who remains at home, possessed by an alien
force, is significant.

15. On the changeling, see Strange and Secret Peoples, chap. 2, pp. 59-87.

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332 Conclusion

MIDDLENESS IN AUTHORITY AND MORALITY

Moral middleness in the European context is between two fixed
points on a spectrum, with devils at one end and angels at the other;
this establishes man in the middle and forces other peoples to be a
secondary middle. To be between xian and yao, however, is to be be-
tween two paths rather than between two points. To some degree,
humans can also choose these two paths, to refine themselves or to
become sorcerers or rebels, but only a small minority go in either di-
rection. Foxes are between these two paths in the sense that they can
choose either one, not because they have a third path.

“When European conceptions deny that fairies or elemental spirits
have a soul, they create the possibility of an amoral but sentient spe-
cies. Fairies can be a way of contemplating moral aliens, who do not
share our sense of good and evil. Without the soul, fairies have ca-
prices rather than emotions and only ape human passions.

16 Chris-
tian ideas situate individual moral choice and moral justice in the
soul; moral obligations apply only to those with souls. But the Chi-
nese system makes no such exclusions, since systems of moral justice
must apply to all beings.17 Interest in the moral alien can blend at-
traction with revulsion, especially when contemplating the amoral
female. The Chinese case shares some of this as well: Yingning and
Xiaocui are thought experiments, attempts to see how a woman who
differed radically from the expectations for her sex could act as
a wife.

In narrative practice, the fox can also seem to represent caprice
without explicable human feelings or motivations, especially in cases
of haunting or predatory sex. But once Chinese authors move out of
individual anecdote to explanation, and thus from popular, shared
narrative to intellectualizing, they are interested in two contradictory

I6. Ibid., p. !2.
17. A Yuewei caotang anecdote describes a fox on trial in the infernal courts for

killing his grandfather. One infernal official argues that animals should be judged by
standards different from those applied to human beings; a second replies that since
foxes are not like other animals, those who have improved themselves should be
judged by human standards. A third argues that filial piety can be expected even of
animals. See YWCT7.3II-I2, story 21.

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Conclusion 333

moral possibilities: either foxes are inherently morally inferior, re-
pelled by good and attracted by evil; or they have the same moral
choices as men. The one thing they cannot be is amoral. However,
these possibilities also have their counterparts in the European ar-
guments: Kirk envisioned the peoples of his “secret common-
wealthes” as having the same range of virtues and vices as ourselves;
yet at the same time they do the most harm to the barbarous and are
defeated by Christian piety.18

Popular experience of foxes-their depredations, inscrutable appa-
ritions, willful gifts, and harsh revenge-does create an impression of
amoral torment. Perhaps on the ground, relations with the nearest
alien were not very different in early modern China or Europe. Ac-
tual experience is the closest to chaos; narrative gives it shape, and
explanation imposes a further level of order. Raw chaos seems the
least culturally specific; it was in elite explanation that differences
emerge.

Talk of moral middle ground evokes the image of the trickster of
international folklore studies. The middle people and the trickster
are not necessarily the same thing, although they overlap. The idea
of the trickster has been defined by examples from folktales and
myths, stories set in another plane of reality or another time, as op-
posed to the middle people who are most common in legends and re-
side on the margins of our world. The trickster is usually an individ-
ual (even if there is more than one, it is Coyote with a capital C,
rather than coyotes). An entire tricky species is a different problem.
Border-crossing and ambivalence are shared, but the difference is in
the ordinariness of the middle people: borders keep being crossed,
and the middle people beat a regular, if not predictable, path through
our houses. Lewis Hyde’s point about the male gender of nearly ail
tricksters is also relevant here.19 A species in which both males and
females cross boundaries, but each in distinct ways that usually keep
the boundary between male and female clear, has a different struc-
tural function than a single male border-crosser: these are the

r8. Kirk, The Secret Commonwealthes of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, p. 73·
19. Hyde, Trickster Made This World, pp. 333-43. I agree with Hyde’s selection of

Sun Wukong as the Chinese representative of tricksters.

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334 Conclusion

tricksters who provide a certain necessary element of chaos in a stable
world rather than the single individual who remakes the world.20

GENRE AND SPECIES: FOLKLORE, DEMONOLOGY,

LITERARY FAIRY TALES

Both the fox and the fairy are unorthodox, standing at the edges of
the greater moral order of their respective universes. The difference
between them is shaped, among other things, by the forms in which
intellectual attention was paid to the unorthodox in their respective
societies, which brings us back to the issue of genre. We have already
seen the correlation between species and genre in the Chinese con-
text: foxes dominate the classical tale, have a more marginal presence
in the vernacular novel, and are almost absent in chuanqi drama. Any
argument based on this correlation risks tautology: Are foxes most
common in the classical tale because of their nature, or do they seem
the way they are because of the genre that records them? I argue that
species and genre are interdependent, with each shaping the other.

In looking at the relations of genre and species cross-culturally, I
find the following distinctions useful: the difference between large
and small stories; between stories set in other worlds and those set in
this one; and between stories narrated as personal experience, as ex-
perience of named friends, and those held at a greater distance. Gen-
erally, the stories closest to personal experience are smaller tales, al-
though not all small stories are close to personal experience.
Different species find their ideal habitats at different points along
this spectrum. Foxes thrive best in small, individual stories, which in
China take the form of the classical tale, although they play their
part in the larger stories of vernacular fiction. They are residents
chiefly of this world and can be as close as personal experience or as
distant as a nameless man at the end of a previous dynasty, the entire
range of the classical tale itself.

In comparison, fairy tales or Marchen are tales of another world,
held at a distance, and legends are tales of this world, sometimes
closer to the teller. The creatures that resemble foxes the most, the
sometimes mischievous, sometimes helpful, kobolds, are found in

zo. Ibid., p. r88.

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Conclusion 335

legends and written records, rather than Marchen. 21 In comparison
with fairies, foxes are more like the regionally specific figures of
legend than the beautiful but vague figures blessing cradles in the
Miirchen.

When foxes do appear in vernacular fiction, they are seldom cen-
tral characters. Rather, they serve a functional role in a larger story:
they are a source of demonic deception, but as in the Daji cycle or
Sanjiao kaimi, the backstory of the fox provides an explanation for re-
venge or lust, or fox gratitude temporarily provides supernatural pro-
tection, as in Qixia wuyi -!:::;{~Ii.~ (Seven gallants and five heroes;
r889). (The exception is Huli quanyuan.) Foxes’ acts of deception,
possession, seduction, revenge, and reward do not make the entire
narrative by themselves. The larger roles are usually reserved for ex-
ceptional beings who are individuals, further from common experi-
ence: the monkey Sun Wukong or even the white snake Bai Niangzi,
who are never subsumed into their species the way a vixen is primar-
ily a vixen. When a vixen becomes an individual, her audience is one
appreciative lover or one fortunate or afflicted household.

In discussing narrative, I have neglected the obvious statement
that, unlike xian and fairies who are subjects of poetry, foxes are pri-
marily the subject of prose. Mter the Tang, when foxes were used as
an image of deception, fox poems are rare. In contrast, xian and fair-
ies are subjects of poetry. Although there are stories in which foxes
compose poetry, such as Hu Shuzhen’s cycle, these are scattered ex-
amples, and the poems make almost no reference to vulpine origins.
There is no established tradition or set of imagery, as there is for the
poetry of ghosts. This suggests that encounters with foxes are in
some way a prosaic, in the sense of ordinary, experience. Poetry
about vixen lovers uses the language of romance with a goddess, and
from vixen lovers the language of the longing woman. The animal
identity of the friend or lover is unpoetic, and the perspective of that
alien species is not imagined clearly enough for poetry, in contrast to
the once human ghost longing for life.

Partially as a consequence of the circumstances of folklore collec-
tion-folklorists collected someone else’s lore, which was about to be

2!. On kobold, see Muller and Wunderlich, Diimonen, Monster, Fabelwese,

P·370.

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Conclusion

lost-fairies always seem to be drawing away from us. Carol Silver
argues that departure is inherent to the nature of the species.

22 Fair-
ies are native to a habitat threatened with loss as soon as men begin
to cultivate it. The fox and the zhiguai, on the other hand, are not
going anywhere. The men who collected zhiguai were collecting
their own lore, and although individual stories might be lost, it was
unthinkable that this kind of story itself might die out. Although the
individual vixen departs, her species fills an ecological niche very
similar to the starlings, Canada geese, and raccoons that thrive in
American suburbia, stealing our garbage and roosting in our yards.
Human habitat suits them very well.

The fox was not, within the timeframe of this book, the subject of
systematic study in China, as the fairies were in England in the Vic-
torian era. 23 Even Ji’s theorizing is always in the context of narrative;
narrative is never pressed into the service of treatises. Theoretical
arguments about the supernatural do not take foxes as a central sub-
ject but focus instead on ghosts or human practices like divination
and geomancy.24 Perhaps the fox was too close and alive in contem-
porary conversation to become a subject of argument. I have already
discussed the relation of this theoretical bent to the systematizing
compulsions of demonology. What the Victorians and their contem-
poraries and predecessors in Qing China shared was the urge
for documentation and voluminous publication of narrative and
experience.

The Chinese case shows that the literary fantasy does not require
distance from its creatures. The stuff of “ordinary” extraordinary ex-
perience, the thunks in the next room and the small space set aside
for the fox, are part of the furniture of the truly extraordinary cases,
the complex relationships with foxes. This overlap anchors weird ex-
perience and fantasy to each other: every abandoned room carries the
possibility of marvel. But whereas the marvelous, qi, tends to shim-
mer in the distance, it is the weird, guai, that occasionally infests
one’s own garden or closets.

22. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples, pp. 185-212. See also Briggs, The Fairies in
Tradition and Literature, p. 210.

23. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples, p. 4·
24. See the survey in Chan, The Discourse of Foxes and Ghosts, pp. 79-94.

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Conclusion 337

Silver argues that the popularizing of fairies in moralistic and sac-
charine children’s literature helped to bring about the fall of the tra-
dition. As fairies lost their ambiguity, their power and attraction
dwindled.25 One can draw a parallel with the Guangxu-era fox
romance, in which the vixen has lost her ambivalence and, in losing
her ties to sex, often finds her claims to passion dulled as well. Satia-
tion of desire becomes routine, and the strange becomes ordinary in
the sense of market saturation. Yet precisely because the fox of close-
hand experience was not going anywhere, the loss of ambivalence in
one branch of the fox tradition did not dictate loss of ambivalence in
the whole. Xu Feng’en §lf*,lgf,, in a collection published in 1879, in-
cluded-alongside a tale of a vixen as both lover and schoolmistress,
good at eight-legged essays; and another of a man who requests a
vixen lover and is rewarded with nine partners of both sexes,26 until
he nearly dies of debauchery; both illustrations of a late, self-
conscious stage of the fox romance-an account of his own experi-
ence in a very different tone. He had gotten used to the footsteps of
the fox transcendent who lived upstairs in the official residence in
Zhejiang where he was temporarily lodging while grading exams.
There had been one tense moment when a dog killed a fox, but he
and his colleagues averted that disaster by burning incense and ask-
ing the foxes not to take their anger out on people. In the comment
appended to this story, he related how one night his friends had been
joking with him, since he was young and lodging alone, about the
amorous ghosts and vixens recorded in books, just as young Sang’s
friends had joked with him in Liaozhals “Lianxiang.” That night
when he went to bed, a beautiful woman appeared. Terrified, he
apologized for his friends’ joking words, insisting he meant no disre-
spect. She vanished, but he could not think of the episode without
the hair on the back of his neck standing up straight?7 In contrast to
his unnamed characters who long for a fox, he is terrified of the pos-
sibility. This vision is linked to reading and conversation, as opposed

25. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples, pp. 186-89.
26. “Gu chuluan” tiM~ and ”Wuxiang mou taishi” .li~~*7,;:9:, in Xu

Feng’en, Lantiaoguan waishi 3.4Ib and 6.12b, respectively.
27. “Zhejiang xueshi shu hu” #Jf¥I~~~m\, in ibid., 4.44b.

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Conclusion

3· Japanese fox from Dianshizhai huabao

to the more immediate experience of foxes weeping for one of their
own, but both reveal that the fox, when close at hand, had not lost its
potential for threat. Whether this represents an account of experi-
ence or a parody of the suggestible Liaozhai reader, Xu chose to por-
tray himself as a man who can coexist with foxes without assuming
that they are benign.

Foxes as a presence in daily life and in narrative do eventually fade
away, without entirely vanishing. The process of that fading is be-
yond the scope of this book. Foxes continue to appear in the pages of
the newspaper Shenbao and the pictorial Dianshizhai huabao into the
1890s, and the odd fox story still attracts the attention of figures as
important to modern literature as Lin Shu and Wu Jianren. When
Qinghai leichao m~!1Jl~tJ> (Categorized Qing fiction), published in
1916, keeps the fox stories in a group but places them within the lar-

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Conclusion 339

ger category mixin ~{§, “superstition,” this is a significant moment,
with the genre intact, at least in retrospect, but one of its determi-
nant topics renamed. The zhiguai and the fox tale had existed in the
uneasily shared space between the supernatural ideas of their upper-
class authors and those of their other informants and subjects. When
the elite adopted new standards, strange tales were no longer poten-
tially shared yiwen ~00, “reports of the strange,” but someone else’s
mixin, and a shared language was lost.2

8 Gerald Figal has argued that
in Meiji Japan theorizing on monsters was central to the moderniz-
ing project, as some parts of the supernatural were eliminated and
others were made central to the Japanese spirit.29 In China, in con-
trast, foxes and their kin were more unequivocally seen as backward.

HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN ALIENS

The overlap between the nonhuman alien and the human alien dif-
fers from culture to culture. In her work on fairies in Victorian con-
sciousness, Silver examines the meaning of ideas about fairies in both
ethnic and gender terms. As we have seen, gendered meanings
of foxes were much more important than ethnic meanings. In both
cultures, women themselves already straddled the boundary of
humanity. During the witchcraft scares in early modern Europe, the
demonological and judicial literature’s interest in sexual relations be-
tween the human and the inhuman is the opposite of the Chinese
case: women’s ties with devils received more attention than men’s re-
lations with succubi. But in the Romantic and Victorian literature on
fairies, the gender distribution is much more like the Chinese case,
with focus on the fairy bride or !a belle dame sans merci.

30 I believe this

shift has to do with a shift in genre, from the regulation of social
threats in judicial writings to the narration of individual experience in
fictional accounts, which is closer to the world of zhiguai and
chuanqi.

28. On the use of the term mixin in constructing nongmin, as opposed to elite,
identity, see Dorfman, “The Spirits of Reform.”

29. See Figal, Civilization and Monsters, p. 15.
30. See Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples, pp. 89-n9, q8-83.

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340 Conclusion

The conflation of ethnic others and the alien species seems more
important in Victorian England than in Qing China.

31 I do not
think that the ethnic implication of hu, “fox,” as a pun for hu iiF.I,
“northern barbarian,” is alive in the Ming and Qing as it was in the
Tang,32 other than in a loose association of foxes with the north. At
most, perhaps there is a parallel in the tales of literary fox friends to
the relations between Han and Manchu men of similar status: one
knew that the other was supposed to be distinct, yet they shared all
the same elite cultural references and amusements. In the late Qing,
there are occasional moments when foreignness and foxiness are
overlaid: an anecdote in the pictorial Dianshizhai huabao about a
Japanese fox opens, “In the world seductive women are called ‘foxes,’
because they are good at beguiling men. If a ‘foxy’ person can already
beguile a man, how much more can a real fox, let alone a foreign
fox?”33 On an unnamed Japanese island known for its population of
foxes, a Chinese traveler comes on shore desperate for something to
eat. A beautiful woman invites him to her place for a meal. He fol-
lows her eagerly until the sound ofWestern troops doing military ex-
ercises nearby alarms her. As she flees, she reveals her true form as a
fox. In the illustration, there seem to be a conflation of markers of
ethnic identity and species identity as her obi and her tail are con-
founded. A simple tale of exorcism is reframed with international
content. In another late Qing tale, a seductive vixen is clearly West-
ernized in dress, and she advises her lover to convert to Christianity
to relieve his poverty.34 But these remain momentary coincidences of
different kinds of strangeness, rather than a sustained way of think-
ing about the alien.

However, the hope of advance, through study and proximity to
humanity, has implications about sinification and inclusion. There
are still limits to assimilation: a fox is never entirely human, and
those who come closest are granted that status only as corpses. To
phrase the question in ethnic terms: Does a “cooked” savage ever be-
come well done enough that he dissolves into the mass of Han Chi-

31. See ibid., pp. 43-50, 117-47.
32. See Kang, “The Fox and the Barbarian.”
33· “Yaohu xianmei” ~m\li:k~, in Dianshizhai huabao, Zi r (z.r) 7, 56.
34· “Bai laochang” B~~, in Xuan Ding, Yeyu qiudeng lu, 4.140.

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——————————–.

Conclusion 34I

nese? But the very question is a paradox: any story which recorded
that transition would of necessity still preserve the label of “alien,” at
least in the beginning. Total assimilation, the barbarian who was no
longer a barbarian, or the fox who was no longer a fox, could happen
only outside of the narrative frame. Narrative instead traces an as-
ymptotic approach. Although literary expectations of foxes as an en-
tirely human-seeming species became routine, assimilation remained
a matter for individuals: even in the late Qing, there remains an in-
exhaustible supply of unrefined foxes who are mysteries in a small
sense-the noise in the attic.

FOX AND SOCIETY, FOX AND LITERATURE

To return to the Chinese case, what does the fox have to teach us
about Chinese society in late imperial times? Fox haunting and the
resident fox showed us that the home was a focus of intense atten-
tion, but at the same time there was a sense of a highly mobile, tran-
sient society. The competitive market in women clearly had a signifi-
cant impact on the imaginary cosmos by creating a great need for
women outside that market. Foxes were a means to think about all of
women’s roles other than the reproductive: they could either be de-
pleting, barren sexual partners, the women one seeks out for enter-
tainment, or they could provide for all of a man’s other needs but
let another woman bear the children.

35 Social mobility, which many
argue is a distinguishing feature oflate imperial society, was accepted
in the fox story as a constant. Conversations about foxes’ mobility

seemed to serve to reassure humans that mobility is, in the end,
inseparable from virtuous hard work, although wicked foxes drama-

tize the possibility of immoral, parasitic advance. The fox as a spirit
of wealth dealt with similar anxieties about profit unrelated to
production.

Interest in the horrible and monstrous is often read as a symptom
of social discontent and instability.

36 How, then, is one to interpret
interest in the alien in modes other than horror? Foxes were shown

35· See Bray, Technology and Gender, pp. 358-68.
36. C£ the concern in Japan with bakumatsu bakemono, “the late Edo monstros-

ity”; Figal, Civilization and Monsters, pp. 21-37-

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342 Conclusion

enduring the vicissitudes of history together with humans: chaste
vixens sacrificed themselves when the Ming fell and again to the
Taipings;37 they fled human rebellions at least as often as they were
involved in them; at least one late Qing vixen was addicted to
opium/8 and another dressed herself in imported fabrics. Rather
than being a sign of anxiety about cultural change, foxes were a reas-
surance of cultural adaptability. Where they survive, we will, too.
Foxes played out the great fantasies of satiation of desire and a just
universe, but at the same time they filled an equally important appe-
tite for the small, quotidian mischance or wonder. In the end, from
an upper-class perspective at least, they were less frightening than
other human beings.

TALKING ABOUT THE ALIEN

The different faces the fox shows in the classical tale and in the ver-
nacular novel suggest that more comparisons between genres would
be highly fruitful. Rather than simply tracing relationships of sources
and variant versions, we need to pay attention to the ways in which
different genres allow exploration of different ideas and issues. Gen-
res that have been relatively neglected, like biji, much drama, espe-
cially regional drama, baojuan :If~ (precious scrolls), and tanci 5~BRJ
(plucking rhymes) would provide rich sources. Relations between
genres as distinct ways of talking and thinking in constant inter-
change with one another are not restricted to a simple division
of popular and elite. Some of the most interesting discoveries are
likely to occur in the places where genres cross and in the gaps be-
tween them.

As for those genres that have been central to this project, Tak-
hung Leo Chan closes his book by arguing that applying standards
other than the aesthetic to Chinese literature will allow scholars to
take on not only zhiguai but the vast oceans of biji.39 I would second
this. These genres contain a vast treasurehouse of the small stories of

37· “Lie hu zhuan” ?.!HJJlft:, in Zhang Chao, Yu chu xinzhi 10.193; and Baiyi ju-
shi, Hutianlu, xia, 46b-47a.

38. Xu Qiuzhai, Wenjian yici, in B]XSDG, 12: 2.7a.
39· Chan, The Discourse of Foxes and Ghosts, p. 250.

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Conclusion 343

the late imperial tradition, including the popular, the whimsical, the
personal, and the petty, which has barely been touched. Although
the fox has provided a valuable glimpse into this world, in a future
project I hope to go beyond a single topic and examine these works
as a whole.

This discussion of foxes has revealed not so much the outer limits
of the human imagination of the alien, as perhaps the inner limits,
habits, and patterns of that imagination. Unlike contemporary au-
thors of science fiction, the zhiguai authors did not deliberately set
out to test those limits with the invention of species.40 The fox in
human form is a particular kind of alien: it is assumed that the alien,
for good or ill, has placed us at the center, and the strange comes in a
form that looks like us. The fox has two poles in the relatively
known, a four-footed animal and a human shape; the strangeness lies
in the link between the two.

Even in contemporary American and European science fiction,
however, it is only the more literary end of the genre (like Stanislaw
Lem’s Solaris) which endeavors to test these boundaries.41 Popular
science fiction provides us with either monstrous ciphers, familiar as
threats, or aliens much closer to ourselves. The former are often
modeled on terrestrial non-mammalian species, either insects or rep-
tiles; the latter come to us, like the fairies or the foxes, as humanoid
bipeds.

As with the foxes, the contemporary popular tradition is obsessed
with aliens who strive to become human: the heart of each successive
Star Trek series had a creature striving toward, or struggling with,
humanity. However, the pole opposite the human is the machine,
not monster or animal, and the key to becoming human is emotion
and release, rather than discipline or effort.

In the contemporary popular tradition, we are interested in both
the alien that more purely represents some quality, be it logic or
valor, than we do, and the one who is even more indeterminate and
suspended between realms than we are. This same two possibilities
were contained in the middle people, whether fairies or foxes. Either
the mixed nature of the middle people is set up as a contrast to

40. Benford, “Effing the Ineffable,” pp. 13-25.
4!. Ibid., P· I4.

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344 Conclusion

human purity, or humans themselves are the true mixed and middle
beings. Foxes are both simpler than we are, and more indeterminate:
they can focus on ascent, or lust, or mischief, to the exclusion of all
other interests, but at the same time, they linger between categories.

Since he had the opening word, I give the last word again to Ji
Yun. At the end of a story of a servant’s wife seduced by a fox, who
confounded all her husband’s efforts to put a stop to it, Ji closed on a
speculative note. It appeared the fox was able to change the shapes of
other things with his tricks.

The Song Confucians urged us to investigate things, but with matters like

this, how can one extrapolate from principle? My father often said that

when foxes live in a tomb and give it the illusory guise of a house and

rooms, people see it as real, but what do the foxes see? Foxes have their fur

and skin and transform it into rouge and mascara; people see it as real, but

what do the foxes themselves see? And moreover, what does a fox see when

it looks at another fox’s illusion? There really is nowhere to start investigat-
. h’ 42 mgt 1s.

Between the tomb and the red pelt and all the trappings of human
fantasy was a third possibility, the true mystery of the perspective of
the fox, the point where reason was exhausted. As much as he

excelled at explaining the strange, Ji Yun gestured here toward his
culture’s limits in imagining the alien.

42. YWCT, 5.231, story 233·

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