The cult of the fox : power, gender, and popular religion in late imperial and modern China / Xiaofei Kang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kang, Xiaofei, Ph.D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cults--China.

Cults.

Foxes--China--Religious aspects.

Foxes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

For more than five centuries the shamanistic fox cult has attracted large portions of the Chinese population and appealed to a wide range of social classes. Deemed illicit by imperial rulers and clerics and officially banned by republican and communist leaders, the fox cult has managed to survive and flourish in individual homes and community shrines throughout northern China. In this new work, the first to examine the fox cult as a vibrant popular religion, Xiaofei Kang explores the manifold meanings of the fox spirit in Chinese society. Kang describes various cult practices, activities of worship, and the exorcising of fox spirits to reveal how the Chinese people constructed their cultural and social values outside the gaze of offical power and morality.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Map: The Chinese Empire in the Early Twentieth Century

Introduction

1. Foxes in Early Chinese Tradition

2. Huxian and the Spread of the Fox Cult

3. Foxes and Domestic Worship

4. Foxes and Spirit Mediums

5. Foxes and Local Cults

6. Fox Spirits and Officials

Conclusion

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780231508223

0231508220

OCLC:

828137779