内容信息

Fox Spirits and Daoism in Qing Vernacular Literature清代市井文學中的狐狸精與道教

【字体：小　大】

　　Abstract: The intricate relationship between fox spirits and Daoism is a prominent theme in Ming-Qing vernacular literature, but it has not been sufficiently studied in Rania Huntington’s work on foxes in Chinese classical tales or in my own book on the fox cult in popular religious practices. This paper seeks to fill this gap by focusing on several Qing vernacular fictional works in which foxes appear in a variety of roles in relation to Daoism, as demons who fought hard battles with Daoist exorcists, as practitioners of sexual and inner alchemy, or as assistants to Daoist gods to initiate scholars and commoners into alchemical practices. While classical tales, or biji and zhiguai, on foxes draw mainly on the fox cult practices in northern China, vernacular fictional works from the Qing publication centers in Jiangnan and Sichuan create a different line of Chinese fox lore. Their elaborate themes and story lines draw heavily on not only written literature from Han, Tang, Ming and Qing times, but also on popular perceptions of spirits, Daoist priests and Daoist gods in local cultures and folk performances. Foxes in these stories became indispensible tools for literati writers to perpetuate their individual agendas, either for Confucian moral didacticism, Daoist alchemical cultivation, or simply the market consumption of sex, romance, and thrilling battles between gods and demons.

　　Kang Xiaofei 康笑菲, (Carnegie Mellon University)

【字体：小　大】

武当新闻录入：张红艳责任编辑：张红艳

热点文章