Before reading about the history and meaning of foxes in ancient China, I had no idea they were a part of their culture. What stood out to me the most is that not all, but many, foxes were female and most likely represented the manner in which women were treated in China at this time. Miss Ren, the fox, is passed around to different men to engage in certain activities with her most prized value being her beauty. There is even one part of the story where it seems like the fox woman is being raped by a man. I am glad that many of my classmates were also bothered about the treatment of and sexism towards Miss Ren. It did seem strange though to me that even Miss Ren talked about other fox women as if they were objects, such as when she said she could easily get a fox woman for a man if he wanted one. I do not think that Miss Ren does not have respect for women, but rather the way in which she talks about other women is a product of the place and time period she was living in.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn during our class zoom session about Empress Wu who proclaimed herself emperor and was a capable monarch. While she was an outlier in terms of women being in power during this time period, it makes me wonder if there are other outliers in history like her. I want to know more about this woman and how she defied the odds in a male-dominated world.
The big lesson that I learned that I will carry forward for the rest of the semester is that foxes play a part in Chinese culture. Foxes represent the slyness and importance of not trusting everyone in society. Miss Ren seems too good to be true, because she is in fact not a human, but a fox.
