The first time I came into contact with the fox spirit in literary works was in the classic novel Romance of the Gods. Su Daji was possessed by Kyubi no Youko's fox, bewitched Zhou Wang, and indirectly ruined the story of Yin Shang. Even at the end of the battle to seal the gods, when the demon princess da ji was about to be beheaded, the fox still had a terrible obsequiousness, which made the soldiers of the Western Zhou Dynasty reluctant to start:
"Words, da ji tied to YuanMen, kneeling in the dust, suddenly is a piece of jade, beautiful as flowers, Qin language jasmine face lining the morning glow; Glaring at infinite amorous feelings, singing charming in every way. ...
Seeing da ji's beauty, the sergeant felt very sorry for him. In addition to his femininity, he repeatedly called generals long generals and short generals. They called these petty officers stiff, dumbfounded, and numb, too brittle to move ... "
Influenced by the Romance of the Gods and Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people have subconsciously defined the fox spirit as a fascinating fox demon.
In fact, in the Han Dynasty, the nine-tailed fox was not a monster, but an auspicious omen.
According to the Book of Rites, because every nine-tailed fox will turn its head to the direction of its nest when it dies, people think that the nine-tailed fox is a kind of auspicious beast with loving quality. Guo Pu, the annotator of The Classic of Mountains and Seas, also wrote an article "Praise of the Nine-tailed Fox" to praise the Swiss beast, the Nine-tailed Fox: "The Beast of Castle Peak is the fox of Kyubi no Youko. If you have a good opinion, you will get a book. "
It can be seen that China's belief in fox spirit has undergone quite subversive changes in the development process, so that the belief in fox spirit is still vague today. In most literary works, the fox spirit appears as a female image. However, it is mentioned in Fox that the image of the fox fairy is likely to be male or female.
It can be said that fox spirits can be transformed into images of men, women and children at will, not necessarily beautiful women. In addition, there are many places where fox spirits are active, such as hotels and government agencies, and fox spirits may appear. In some northern areas, people regard the fox spirit as a kind of god. For example, some people will worship the fox spirit and make it the patron saint of the family. Advocating Excellence will also offer sacrifices to fox spirits for blessing.
According to paleontologists' research, foxes were almost everywhere in ancient China. Because of this, people have been in frequent contact with foxes since the Middle Ages, when ancestors began to believe that foxes were spiritual animals. Most of the extant legends of fox spirits in the Middle Ages are set in northern China. With the development of fox spirit belief, although it has spread to all parts of China, it is still very strong in northern China.
In 1930s, Li Weizu, a student of sociology department in yenching university, conducted a survey in the suburbs of Beijing. After visiting, it was found that although the belief in fox spirits in the suburbs of Beijing was banned and suppressed by the National Government at that time, the local belief in fox spirits was still banned repeatedly.
Judging from the biographical novel Four Doors, which describes the local customs of Beijing suburbs, the legends of fox spirits in Beijing suburbs are really a dime a dozen.
According to this book:
There is a fox spirit behind the yenching university boys' dormitory, and this fox spirit is also an alchemist behind the dormitory.
There is also a woman, a man and a pair of fox spirits living in the west gate of yenching university. Fox spirits usually make alchemy in Weixiu Garden.
There is a hill on the west side of the religious building, where a successful fox spirit lives.