In Chinese folklore, a huli jing is a fox spirit capable of transforming into human form, often appearing as a beautiful woman.
Huli jing are not uniformly evil. Depending on the tale, they can be benevolent, dangerous, mischievous or romantically devoted. Stories frequently depict a fox spirit assuming the appearance of an attractive woman and forming a relationship with a man, sometimes to gain spiritual power or absorb his life essence. Other tales treat the transformation as a test of human virtue.
Fox spirits became especially prominent in Chinese literature. Pu Songling’s Qing-dynasty collection Liaozhai Zhiyi includes many sympathetic or romantic fox-woman stories, complicating the idea that every huli jing is simply a demon. The broader tradition also includes powerful nine-tailed foxes, which later influenced Japanese kitsune and Korean kumiho legends.
A huli jing should not be confused with a jiangshi, the hopping reanimated corpse, or a yaoguai, a broad term for monstrous or transformed supernatural beings. “Beautiful woman who is really a fox spirit” is the classic huli jing clue.