The nine-tailed fox appears in the
Shanhaijing (
Classic of Mountains and Seas), compiled from the
Warring States period to the
Western Han period (circa fourth to circa first century BC). Describing the transformation and other features of the fox,
Guo Pu (276–324) made the following comment: In
Duìsúpiān (對俗篇) of the
Baopuzi, it is written: In a Tang Dynasty story, foxes could become humans by wearing a skull and worshipping the
Big Dipper. They would try multiple skulls until they found one that fit without falling off. The
Youyang Zazu made a connection between nine-tailed foxes and the divine: The fox spirits encountered in tales and legends are usually female and appear as young, beautiful women. One of the most infamous fox spirits in Chinese mythology was
Daji, who is featured in the
Ming Dynasty shenmo novel
Fengshen Yanyi. A beautiful daughter of a general, she was forcibly married to the cruel tyrant,
Di Xin. A nine-tailed fox spirit who served
Nüwa, whom Di Xin had offended, entered into and possessed her body, expelling the true Daji's soul. The spirit, as Daji, and her new husband schemed cruelly and invented many devices of torture, such as forcing righteous officials to hug red-hot metal pillars. Because of such cruelties, many people, including Di Xin's own former generals, revolted and fought against the
Shang dynasty. Finally,
King Wen of Zhou, one of the vassals of Shang, founded a new dynasty named after his country. The fox spirit in Daji's body was later driven out by
Jiang Ziya, the first Prime Minister of the
Zhou dynasty, and her spirit condemned by Nüwa herself for excessive cruelty. ==Traditions==