Money and Wealth in Qing Texts on Fox Spirits

Abstract

This study analyses the rules of circulation of money (and wealth in general) in Qing-era (1644–1911) Chinese texts on the supernatural. It is based on the popular collections of stories by writers Pu Songling, Ji Yun and Yuan Mei.

Ever since the 19th century, when sinologists started field studies on Chinese religions, there was much discussion about the extent to which literary texts can be used as sources on Chinese religions. Indeed, in each instance it is difficult to separate the product of the literary imagination from its possible folklore basis. However, as this study shows, literary texts were usually created within the framework of a certain system of ideas, which determines the nature of the characters and their modes of interaction with each other, including the financial aspects of these relations. Given the large scale of the Chinese pantheon, the object of study was limited to one class of supernatural being, fox spirits.

It appears that in Qing texts on supernatural world and associated folk beliefs of that time, silver, which served as currency in China, as well as property, was found, lost, borrowed, stolen, sold and bought by fox-spirits according to a changing system of rules inherent in the worldview of the period. Objects (including silver) can have their own predetermined fate which can influence the fate of characters interacting with them. The boundaries of possibilities in such interaction are often set by cultural norms and can’t be broken even by supernatural beings. In many respects tales of the supernatural from the Qing period, despite the specifics of the subject, promote traditional ethics and social order.