FOXES have been popular characters in Chinese fables for two millennia. They first featured in their original animal form before gradually taking on the persona of spirits, both benevolent and malevolent, in the guise of bewitchingly beautiful, charming young women.

Famous Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) writer Pu Songling’s stories about fox spirits in his well-known Strange Tales from Make-do Studio characterize them as beautiful creatures that embody the finest human virtues of fidelity, love, generosity, justice, and willingness to help others. Over the past three centuries, readers of Pu Songling’s work have come to refer to these characters as “fox angels” rather than “fox spirits.”

Ma Ruifang, Chinese scholar and expert on the Strange Tales from Make-do Studio, once acted as host to a visiting American professor from Chicago University. When the two spoke of Pu Songling’s works the professor expressed his amazement at how this 17th-century Chinese writer from feudal, isolated, imperial China could have dreamt up the story Hengniang, one of the 500 Strange Tales' most famous foxy stories. Its implicit advice to wives on how to employ feminine wiles to defeat rivals and secure their spouses’ passion strongly resembled the counsel dispensed on the lonely hearts pages of American newspapers and magazines of the 1980s.

Women of the Dream World

Hengniang’s plot is the classic husband, wife and mistress love triangle. Hengniang is a benign fox spirit and wife of a mortal. Her neighbor, Hong Daye, has a wife, Zhu, and a concubine. Zhu is more beautiful, and only a few years older than the concubine but, to Zhu’s consternation, Hong Daye favors his concubine over her. Hengniang’s husband also has a concubine, one appreciably younger and more beautiful than Hengniang, but he nevertheless loves his wife the more by far. When Zhu asks Hengniang why this should be Hengniang tells her that it is human nature to abandon the old for the new and to yearn for the elusive. At Hengniang’s suggestion, Zhu adopts a magnanimous attitude towards her husband and his concubine for a whole month, making it easy for them freely to spend day and night together. Hengniang also advises Zhu to improve her looks. During the month-long experiment, Zhu busies herself around the house wearing old clothes and no make-up. But on the last day of the month, she dons new clothes, shoes and styles her hair. As Hengniang predicts, the light of love returns to Hong Daye’s eyes when he beholds her, and before nightfall he comes knocking at Zhu's bedroom door. Zhu, still following Hengniang’s advice, gently but firmly declines to let him in, feigning tiredness. The next day, she follows the same strategy. On the third day, Daye slips into Zhu’s room before sunset and waits till dark. That night the couple spend their happiest night together since they were newlywed. When Daye asks Zhu if he may stay with her the next night, Zhu demurs, telling him he must wait for three days.

Zhu joyfully recounts to Hengniang her successful reclamation of Daye’s passion. Hengniang cautions Zhu to continue using her feminine wiles, because although Zhu may be beautiful she lacks charm, so her husband’s reawakened passion may be short-lived. Hengniang explains that charm encompasses a woman’s manner and all aspects of behavior -- the way she walks, talks and even looks at her husband. Hengniang instructs Zhu in all the appropriate feminine mannerisms, telling her to practice them every day in front of a mirror. Zhu, of course, eventually wins back husband’s devoted love. The “charm” of which Hengniang speaks is what was defined as “fox charm” 1,000 years earlier in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) by famous poet and writer Luo Binwang, who coined the term, giving it pejorative connotations, in a condemnatory piece of prose directed against Empress Wu Zetian. The empress, however, was flattered rather than enraged at this allusion.

Another foxy story in Pu Songling’s work, Jiaona celebrates true friendship and love among mortals and foxes. When the young scholar Kong Xueli falls seriously ill, his friend, a fox spirit, urges Kong to let his sister Jiaona cure him. A young woman, “brimming softness and beaming intelligence” whose figure and manner resemble a “willow’s grace” then appears. Jiaona performs a surgical operation on Kong, and spits into his mouth an elixir that is the cultivated accumulation of years of her vital energy. Upon regaining consciousness Kong falls in love with the young woman’s soft, serene beauty and kindness and asks her brother’s permission to marry her. As Jiaona is too young to wed, her fox family instead marries her elder sister Songniang to Kong. Songniang is as beautiful and kind-hearted as Jiaona, and the couple lives happily.

A few years later, Kong’s friend and fox brother-in-law tells him that a massive thunderstorm threatens his family, and that they will all perish unless Kong comes to their rescue. Kong immediately agrees, regardless of the danger to himself. On that stormy night, Kong, sword in hand, guards the entrance to the fox family cave. Suddenly, a black gust of wind whirls out of the cave with Jiaona at its center. Kong makes an almighty thrust with his sword and Jiaona falls to the ground. As Kong is about to help her up, he is struck by a thunderbolt. The storm then abates, the sky clears and the fox family is safe, but Kong is about to expire. Jiaona sacrifices the last drop of her self-cultivation of 1,000 years and spits in to Kong’s mouth the elixir that will save him a second time. The fox family moves in with Kong Xueli at his insistence. In order to avoid further disaster, the fox family lives a secluded life in a quiet courtyard whose doors open only to Kong and Songniang . Years later, Kong and Songniang’s children are grown up, and he is a white-haired old man. He maintains his intimate friendship with his fox brother-in-law, Jiaona, now married, and their families.

Xiaocui is another charming fox spirit story. Xiaocui is lovely, vivacious fox spirit with the outward trappings of a beautiful young lady. One day, her fox mother takes her to the Wang household and steals away, apparently abandoning her daughter. Wang is a local official whose only son is mentally challenged. He has neither playmates nor marriage prospects, but Xiaocui befriends and later marries him. Although the Wangs initially love Xiaocui, her unruly ways antagonize them, and they often scold and upbraid her, but Xiaocui accepts this treatment with equanimity. When Wang is framed by his political enemies Xiaocui’s wisdom saves the family from disaster. She also cures her husband’s mental illness. But Xiaocui knows that her parents-in-law will never be able to accept her rebellious attitude towards the feudalistic conventions of the time. She finds a young woman that resembles her and arranges for her to take her place in the Wang household. Before stealing away, Xiaocui confesses to her husband that she is actually the daughter of a fox. Decades previously, her mother had sheltered from a thunderstorm under Wang’s robe as he himself took refuge from the storm in a temple. Although Wang had not been aware of the help he had given the fox mother, she felt beholden to repay him the kindness he had done her. It was for this reason that she left Xiaocui in his care.

The Evil Fox Spirit

Proverbs that use fox imagery, however, generally portray this intelligent, charming animal as cunning and contemptible. One example is the proverb, Hu (fox) Jia (fake, under) Hu (tiger’s) Wei (power), an allegory for tricksters and scoundrels that bend others to their will by flaunting their powerful connections. Its origins are in a story about the king of the State of Chu from more than 2,000 years ago. The king asked his ministers if rumors that the northern vassals feared the important Chu military official Zhao Xixu were true. His minister Jiang Yi answered by telling the king a fable: The Tiger King of the Forest was about to devour the fox he had just captured when the fox told him, “You can’t eat me because I have the Mandate of Heaven that makes me head of the animal kingdom. If you don’t believe me, walk with me through the forest and see if any other animal dares to cross my path.” The tiger agreed. Sure enough, all the animals they met fled at their approach. The tiger, not realizing that it was he and not the fox that the animals feared, refrained from eating the fox.

Minister Jiang Yi went on to point out that the king’s territory covered an area of 2,500 kilometers and that his military force comprised one million men -- all of whom were under the control of the official Zhao Xixu. The northern vassals undoubtedly feared Zhao, but in his capacity as controller of the king’s military force and representative of his supremacy. Jiang warned that unless tje king enforced his supremacy it would be bound to weaken. The king subsequently diluted Zhao’s military power.

Vituperative Vixen

Daji, heroine of Canonization of the Gods, exemplifies the evil fox spirit. This Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) work is about the downfall of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.) and the rise of the succeeding Zhou Dynasty. King Zhou was the last monarch of the Shang Dynasty and a notorious tyrant. He levied exorbitant taxes on the people with which to build himself luxurious palaces and fund his debauched lifestyle. During his rule, the 600-year-old Shang Dynasty rapidly disintegrated. Rampant wars lost the people their livelihoods, and chaos reigned. In Canonization of the Gods, however, Daji, the wife of King Zhou, is portrayed as the true culprit of the fall of the Shang Dynasty.

Daji is a fox spirit in the form of a beautiful young woman who is sent by the deity to bewitch King Zhou and bring about the downfall of the Shang Dynasty. Her reward is immortality.

King Zhou was extremely lax in his attention to state affairs, leaving everything to his uncle, Prime Minister Bigan. Bigan discovers the truth about Daji’s true persona and urges King Zhou to be rid of her, but to no avail. Enraged at his uncle’s temerity the king banishes Bigan. Daji, aware of the threat Bigan represents, hatches a plan to kill her enemy. She feigns illness, and another evil spirit in beauteous mortal form comes to the king, telling him that unless Daji eats Bigan’s heart she will die. Bigan is consequently murdered. But Daji’s evil goes beyond dispatching her enemies. She indulges her taste for unborn fetuses and also encourages the king in his dissipated lifestyle, thereby hastening the fall of the Shang Dynasty.

Daji is eventually captured and sentenced to death, but all the executioners sent to carry out the order fall under her spell and are unable to take her life. After several executioners are themselves been executed for failure to carry out their duty, a commander with magic powers personally does away with Daji.

This novel is a main reason why feminine charms are frequently equated with evil fox spirits, and why calling a woman a fox is generally intended as an insult.

Despite all this negative fox imagery, however, fox fur is widely admired. The earliest written reference to it is in the Book of Songs of 2,000 years ago. It reads, “Take foxes to make fur coats for our young princes.” Fox fur was then regarded as fit only for aristocratic raiment.

Chinese ancients tried all means possible to capture and skin foxes, but as it is an alert and cunning animal, hunting generally succeeded only in enhancing its intelligence. Humans have never succeeded in domesticating or making pets out of foxes; it is one of the few animals intelligent enough to outwit man.

It is probably a mixture of resentment and admiration that caused Chinese literature to portray the fox as alternately benign and evil. The Classic of Mountains and Rivers, a geographic and mythical encyclopedia compiled more than 2,000 years ago, describes the fox as a nine-tailed, man-eating monster. The Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Explanation and Study of Principles of Composition of Characters), China’s first dictionary, written between 100 and 121 during the Eastern Han Dynasty, however, defines the fox as “a bewitching animal ridden by devils.”