Fox fairy in the Qing dynasty classical story

The thesis follows the development of fox fairy concept in Chinese folklore and literature up to the 17th century. The main part focuses on the prominent 17th century literary figure Pu Songling and his employment of the fox fairy motives in the short story collection Liaozhai zhiyi. It points out the manifold ways, by which the fox world reflects the shortcomings of the human world, thus enabling the author to create a satire of contemporary Chinese society