The fox immortal has been recorded for a long time, and in the ancient Chinese "Xuanzhong Book", it is mentioned, "The fox is fifty years old, can change into a woman; a hundred years old is a beautiful woman, a witch, can know thousands of miles of foreign affairs, make people confused and demented, and the thousand years old is to communicate with the heavens, for the heavenly fox." This means that the fox fairy can transform into a human being at the age of fifty, a beautiful woman at the age of 100, and a thousand years old who can reach the heavens.
The Book of Xuanzhong
Fox immortals first appeared in the positive image of Xiangrui in the ancient legends, there is the worship of fox totem, Tushan clan, pure fox clan, Yousu clan and other tribes belong to the fox totem clan.
Fox totem
According to legend, when Da Yu was ruling the water, Yu was busy all day and had no intention of making girlfriends, looking like he was important to the cause of youth, and he was about to die. Once, when he walked to Tushan And saw a nine-tailed white fox, he was moved, so he married and had children here, and his son, Qi, was the son of the fox immortal, and later became the founding king of the Xia Dynasty.
Da Yu Zhi Shui
Since then, In China's long feudal society, especially the persecution and suppression of women's personality and psychology, it has gradually become a hotbed for the birth of the "fox fairy" culture.
It is recorded in the "Chao Ye Yu Zai" that the people are troubled by fox gods, and the sacrifices in the houses are begging for grace, and the food and drink are the same as those in the world. It can be seen that fox fairies were first loved by women in feudal society.
"Asano Yuzai"
The fox's beautiful fur, small and cute body and cunning and strange temperament are really only comparable to delicate women in the minds of the ancients.
fox
The fox was the most honorable in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and was listed as one of the four auspicious rui together with the dragon, the unicorn and the phoenix. In Han Dynasty stone carvings and brick paintings, nine-tailed foxes are often juxtaposed with white rabbits, toads and blue birds next to the West Mother Throne to show auspiciousness.
Han Dynasty stone carvings
Some people also conclude that the fox has three virtues: soft coat color, in line with the way of moderation; small in stature and large in front of the body, in line with the order of dignity and inferiority; when he dies, his head is facing his cave, and he does not forget the fundamentals.
It can be seen that the fox immortals have lived quite moistly in the more than two thousand years of the summer solstice.
But after the Han Dynasty, the status of fox immortals as Xiangrui declined sharply, and the previous good words about foxes were gone, and the rest were some unseemly words, such as "fox doubt", "fox charming" and so on.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, foxes began to humanize, became boundless in mana, and gained human emotions and intelligence. For example, in ge Hong's book "Miscellaneous Records of Xijing", there is a story of the ancient white fox turning into an old man and entering a dream.
There are many works about fox immortals in "Search for God", and it has become fashionable for people to talk about fox immortals at that time. However, at this time, most of the novels about fox immortals have a single plot and a tragic ending.
"Miscellaneous Records of Xijing"
The Tang Dynasty was more about hyping up supernatural events related to fox immortals. In the Qing Dynasty, the note-taking novels represented by "Liaozhai Zhiyi" and "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang" were also widely discussed.
Pu
"Liaozhai Zhiyi" is a collection of fox immortals, reaching the peak of perfection, Pu Songling's fox immortals combine all the virtues of human beings and become good friends of human beings, they emphasize friendship, respect for true feelings, but more lovely than humans.
Fox fairy