Original Text
A Taoist priest from the Chaotian Temple was fond of the art of breathing and nourishing life. An old man once lodged in the temple, who happened to share the same fondness for this cultivation technique, and so the two became fellow practitioners. The old man stayed in the temple for several years, and each year, when the time for the suburban sacrifice to Heaven arrived, he would leave the temple about ten days in advance, returning only after the sacrifice was concluded. The priest was greatly puzzled by this and asked the old man why he did so. The old man said, "We are bosom friends, so I can tell you the truth: I am a fox. When the day of the suburban sacrifice comes, all the deities come to sweep away impurities, leaving me no place to hide, so I flee on my own." Another year passed, and as the date of the sacrifice drew near, the old man departed again, but this time he did not return to the temple for a very long time. The priest grew deeply suspicious. One day, the old man suddenly appeared, and the priest asked him why he had been so late in returning. The old man replied, "I almost never saw you again! Earlier, I intended to hide far away, but feeling weary at heart, I noticed a hidden drain and thought it a secluded spot, so I crouched under a jar at the entrance of the drain. Unexpectedly, the god Wang Lingguan came to sweep that very place, spotted me at once, and angrily raised his whip to strike me. I fled in terror, with the god in hot pursuit. When I reached the banks of the Yellow River, and the god was about to catch up, in utter desperation I darted into a latrine and lay prostrate there. The god, disgusted by the filth, turned back and left. When I emerged, I was covered in foul stench and could no longer appear among the living. So I plunged into the water to cleanse myself, then hid in a cave for nearly a hundred days until the grime was completely washed away. Today I have come to bid you farewell and to offer you a word of advice: you too should leave this place and go into hiding elsewhere, for a great calamity is approaching, and this is no place of peace." With these words, the old man took his leave. The priest heeded his advice and moved to another place. Not long after, the Jiashen Rebellion occurred, which brought about the fall of the Ming dynasty.
Commentary
In the long feudal society of China, the deeply ingrained beliefs in the divine right of kings and the resonance between heaven and humanity led common folk to think that the emperor's rituals of sacrificing to heaven and earth were blessed and protected by the celestial realm. Since the Chaotian Temple in Beijing was the place where the emperor and his officials rehearsed ceremonial rites, when the time for the suburban sacrifices approached, all spirits were commanded to cleanse the grounds of impurity, and thus demons and monsters, including fox spirits, were naturally targeted for expulsion. This tale unfolds against the backdrop of such folk legends.
In the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty (1644), according to the Chinese celestial and earthly branches calendar, it was the year of Jia Shen. That year, Li Zicheng's peasant rebel army entered Beijing, the Ming Dynasty fell, and history records this as the Jia Shen Catastrophe. In the same year, Qing troops also entered the capital. Because the dynastic change was a cataclysmic upheaval in Chinese history, it brought violent shock and even upheaval to the common people, both in their concepts and their hearts. This story, through the words of a fox dwelling in the capital, reflects this great event from a sidelong perspective.