Two Contradictory Images of the Female Fox Spirit: What are its underlying implications? Among the rich, enormous, and abundant images in literature, the fox spirit was one of the most famous and frequent spirits depicted in Chinese imperial history. The fox is considered one of the most important Chinese folk beliefs, and the story of the fox is one of the popular subjects of classical Chinese novels. Most fox-inspired characters take the form of female characters, the female fox spirit such as Daji in Fengshen Yanyi and Ren in Ren's Story has remained imprinted in Chinese culture and become a famous image. Firstly, the sex of the fox spirit was a bit arbitrary, neither the female nor the male sex was assigned to the incarnation of the fox spirit. In literature, legends and folktales, she then became more exclusively a female fox spirit rather than a male one, probably due to the development of feudalism and emerging patriarchal rule. There are typically two types of incarnations of female fox spirits depicted in ancient and imperial Chinese literature. . One is the evil, seductive, evil female character who often gains power and strength by manipulating or draining men. The other is the kind-hearted, kind, virtuous and loyal female character who often sacrifices herself for the sake of her lover. Regardless of the two contradictory images of the female fox spirit, they all reflect the paradoxical view that men had of women in early China. Or in other words, these two distinctive portraits of fox women may reveal men's contradictory views regarding women (Huang 143). On the one hand, represented by this last image of the fox spirit possessing a good nature, men love and admire women. On the other hand, as represented by the previous image of the fox spirit engaging in e...... middle of paper ......g Zhou, who was initially an intelligent and worthy ruler, cannot escape the The vital attraction of Daji's extraordinary beauty and seductive body. Through image creation, people can be warmed and reminded of the potentially great influence women could have on men (Huang, 144). Furthermore, the responsibility for the deterioration of a country is attributed to the fox spirit women since they are the ones who bewitched the king into inappropriate governing practices and caused unrest. In Fengshen Yanyi, King Zhou deviates and corrupts only after Daji arrives. This is also just a historical novel made up of a grand fantasy so the plots may be a little less reasonable, but it still demonstrates the tendency of the powerful male to externalize failure to females. The fall of the country is not due to the improper rule of the ruler, but to the bad actions of beautiful women.