1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910454883403321

Autore

Kang Xiaofei

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Columbia University Press, c2006

ISBN

0-231-50822-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (263 p.)

Disciplina

299.5/11212

Soggetti

Cults - China

Foxes - China - Religious aspects

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.