The "cult of the fox" is not a cohesive religious group. Accordingly, the cult of the fox can be considered part of Chinese "popular" or "folk" religion, itself a general term used to refer to various religious practices in China at the local level and outside of the major traditions of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. The cult is regional by nature and, in the 16thth centuries, was primarily located in the modern day provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Northern Anhui, and Jiangsu.
These areas form the focus of this entry. In addition, there were sporadic mentions of the fox cult in Southern China and fox worship has been present in Manchuria from the 19th century to the present-day. Even further afield, fox worship can be found in both Korea and Japan, though a detailed study of those areas and the relationship of their worship to Chinese practices is outside the bounds of this entry. Generally speaking, there is no distinction made between huxian "invisible fox spirits" and living foxes as the latter are considered to be spiritual animals.
In many instances, it is said that foxes are long-lived and that by cultivating themselves and learning secret arts over the course of their lifetimes they can become huxian. Because neither the fox cult nor the larger context of Chinese popular religion are closed, centrally-organized systems, huxian are thought to exist alongside a host of other human and non-human spiritual entities, including the ghosts of deceased humans, Daoist deities and immortals, gods and spirits from other popular traditions, and Buddhist Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
Within this array of spiritual entities, huxian are understood as liminal, and often subversive, figures, a trait that makes them perfect figures for negotiating and mediating between different forces and domains. Fox worship is thus highly personal in nature and humans can form a variety of different relationships with foxes.
Accordingly, foxes are associated with complex family dynamics often involving wives and daughters and are frequently worshipped by marginalized groups such as prostitutes and entertainers. Most commonly, huxian are associated with spirit mediums, particularly female mediums, who have generally had little social status in the late imperial period, despite their services being sought out by all social classes.
