// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Daji say to her date? "You're a fox to me

For other uses, see Daji (disambiguation).

Daji 妲己
Daji, as depicted on a relief at Ping Sien Si Temple in Perak, Malaysia
Born	around 1076 BC
Died	after 1046 BC
Spouse	Di Xin
Names Clan name: Su (蘇) Courtesy name: Da (妲) Ancestral name: Ji (己)
Father	Lord of Yousu

Daji (Chinese: 妲己; pinyin: Dájǐ; Wade–Giles: Ta²-chi³) was the alleged favorite consort of Di Xin, the last king of the Shang dynasty in ancient China. However, she is not recorded in contemporary oracle bone inscriptions.

In historical legends and some fictions, she is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit who kills and impersonates the real Daji. Her identification as a fox spirit seems to have originated from at least the Tang dynasty. These accounts have been popularized in works such as the Wu Wang Fa Zhou Pinghua (武王伐紂平話), the Fengshen Yanyi, and the Lieguo Zhi. She is considered a classic example of how a beautiful femme fatale can cause the downfall of a dynasty in Chinese culture.

In the Song dynasty, fox spirit cults, including those dedicated to Daji, were outlawed, but their suppression was unsuccessful. For example, in 1111, an imperial edict was issued for the destruction of many spirit shrines within Kaifeng, including those of Daji.

Biography

Di Xin and his consort Daji as depicted in Faits mémorables des empereurs de la Chine, tirés des annales chinoises (1788)

Daji was a noblewoman from the ancient State of Yousu (有蘇). According to traditional naming conventions, her clan name was Ji (己), while Da (妲) was a style name or honorific meaning "daughter". Although she is commonly known as Su Daji (蘇妲己), historians note that "Su" refers to the State of Yousu rather than a personal surname. Thus, the name Su Daji literally means "the daughter of the Ji clan from the State of Yousu", and her personal given name is unknown. Early in his reign, Di Xin invaded Yousu and took Daji as his prize. Di Xin soon became besotted with her and his infatuation led to prolific and wasteful spending, which in turn required further taxation.

The opponents of Di Xin's rule believed that Daji was to blame for many ills affecting the kingdom. And so, after the fall of the Shang dynasty, Daji was executed on the orders of King Wu of Zhou on the advice of Jiang Ziya. The Grand Historian by Sima Qian, only briefly mentions Daji and her execution, that Di Xin had listened only to Daji, and that she was killed after Di Xin. According to Han scholar Liu Xiang's Biographies of Exemplary Women, following her death, her head was hung on a small white flag to symbolize how she had become the downfall of the dynasty. She had become King Wu's excuse for taking over the kingdom, and, as such, the government was renewed following her death. Other sources state that she committed suicide by strangulation.

Daji as a mythical fox

Daji was not originally associated with fox spirits in early historical records. Pre-Qin and Western Han texts, such as the Book of Documents and Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, describe her strictly as a cruel human woman who exerted undue influence over King Zhou. The association with foxes did not emerge until the Eastern Han dynasty, coinciding with the rise of prophetic theology and Daoist mysticism, which popularized the concept of foxes interacting with humans and attaining magical properties.

From the Southern and Northern Dynasties period on, Daji was believed to be an incarnation of a nine-tailed fox.

Daji had many shrines associated with her in fox form. The shrines dedicated to her were considered illicit cults and as such, banned.

While not related directly to one source, the creation of foot binding is associated with Daji as well. It is said that Daji created foot binding to hide her fox feet. As the other women did not know why she wrapped her feet, the other ladies at court imitated her.

Literature

See also: Creations of Daji

Depiction of Daji in the Hokusai Manga

Daji is featured in the Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi as a major antagonist. She was the first featured as the corrupter of the declining Shang dynasty in the novel. She was summoned by Nüwa, the celestial sovereign, to destroy King Zhou. In return, Nüwa promised immortality after her mission was finished. In Fengshen Yanyi, she was a daughter of Su Hu (蘇護); in the early chapters, she was killed by a thousand-year-old fox spirit who possessed her body before becoming a concubine of Di Xin. Her father Su Hu gave her to him as an appeasement offer after armed conflict broke out between Su's and Shang military forces.

One night before, Daji was sent to the capital city of Zhaoge, and she was possessed by an evil nine-tailed fox spirit (aka Thousand-Year-Old Vixen). When Daji arrived in Zhaoge, she became the center of attention of Di Xin and caused the king to be extremely obsessed with her. Di Xin neglected state affairs to keep her company and ignored the advice of his subjects. Yunzhongzi was the first man to act against Daji by giving the king a magical peach-wood sword which would make Daji ill and eventually kill her. She rose above the ranks from a minor concubine to become the queen based on the king's favoritism towards her.

Daji was blamed for the fall of the Shang dynasty by corrupting Di Xin and causing him to neglect state affairs and rule with tyranny and despotism. This ultimately led to the dynasty's decline and widespread chaos. Di Xin's tyranny incurred the anger and resentment of the common people, who eventually rose up in revolt against him under King Wu of Zhou's leadership. After the fall of the Shang dynasty, Daji is not included in the Investiture List (封神榜). Instead, she is executed by Jiang Ziya using the Flying Knife, as the novel states that her powers made her unsuitable for ordinary execution. In later adaptations and some folk traditions, however, Daji is portrayed differently, with some versions depicting her as being deified or attaining immortality.

In Renshi Zuan, Daji is paranoid about others finding out her secret of being a fox. As such, she escalates to violence and kills until the king is the only one who does not know. In most literature involving Daji, there is some reason as to why she cannot be killed in human form, since she is too beautiful. In Fengshen Yanyi, a magical weapon is required to kill her. In Wang Fa Zhou Pingua, a mirror is used to expose and destroy her. In this piece of literature, Daji's true form was a nine-tailed fox with a woman's face.

In Zhaoyang Qushi, a Ming dynasty novel, Daji is a fox spirit who leaves heaven. She was unhappy after her time on Earth, so she left again for the Earth to make a fox kingdom.

Tomb

A tomb traditionally attributed to Daji, known as the Tomb of Su Daji (苏妲己墓), is located in present-day Qi County, Henan Province, near the site of the ancient Shang capital of Zhaoge. The earthen tomb is situated near the Qi River, about 100 meters north of the Tomb of King Zhou and beside the tomb of Queen Jiang. The site is listed as a protected cultural relic of Henan Province.

Modern adaptations

In the 2006 television series The Legend and the Hero, Daji is divided into two separate identities. The human Daji is portrayed as kind and innocent, while the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon is depicted as a separate entity that possesses her body and commits the evil acts attributed to Daji. In the series, Nüwa accepts the human Daji as her disciple and grants her the title Guanghan Xianzi (广寒仙子), identifying her with Chang'e, the Moon Goddess.

The 2019 television series Investiture of the Gods significantly departs from the original novel by portraying Daji's relationship with the Fox Demon King as a tragic romance. In this adaptation, Daji seeks revenge for the massacre of her family, the Su clan of Jizhou. Later in the series, Jiang Ziya places Daji on the Deification List, conferring upon her the title Yongling Xing (永灵星; "Eternal Spirit Star"). Daji, however, declines the deification and instead chooses to enter the Dark Abyss (无间暗狱) to remain with the Fox Demon.

Interpretations

An article published in the state-sponsored magazine National Humanities History (国家人文历史) traces the evolution of Daji's image in Chinese literature. It notes that some Eastern Han and Wei–Jin texts, including the Daoist work Zhen'gao (真诰), describe Daji as possessing the qualifications to become a "Terrestrial Immortal" (地仙) through the Daoist practice of corpse liberation (尸解法). According to the article, later Confucian scholars rejected this interpretation on the grounds that an evil figure should not attain divine status, contributing to Daji's portrayal as a demon in later tradition. The article suggests that this development may explain why the Ming dynasty novel Investiture of the Gods depicts Daji as being executed rather than deified. It also argues that Daji belongs to a broader literary tradition in which beautiful women were used as scapegoats for political failures, drawing parallels with Mo Xi, who was blamed for the fall of the Xia dynasty, and Bao Si, who was associated with the collapse of the Western Zhou.

According to Academia Sinica researcher Huang Ming-chorng argues that this revised historical understanding also provides context for Daji's execution. Drawing on archaeological evidence, he suggests that, following the Battle of Muye, Daji was treated not as a palace consort but as a defeated military leader. According to Huang, she was likely executed, decapitated, and her head presented at the Zhou ancestral temple as a war trophy. Huang further argues that Daji's later demonization reflects a cultural clash between the Shang and Zhou dynasties. He notes that the Book of Documents records King Wu of Zhou criticizing King Zhou for allowing a "hen to crow in the morning" (牝雞司晨), a metaphor condemning female participation in government. Huang argues that, while women exercised political and military authority in Shang society, the more patriarchal Zhou dynasty regarded such practices as illegitimate, contributing to Daji's later portrayal as a corrupting influence.

Modern analyses of Investiture of the Gods have discussed the moral paradox in Nüwa's treatment of Daji. Shi Jingjing, a senior reporter for South Reviews (南风窗), argues that Nüwa's order contains a logical contradiction: to overthrow the stable Shang dynasty, Daji had to encourage King Zhou's tyranny so that he would lose the support of his ministers. Shi argues that Daji ultimately becomes a "scapegoat" for Nüwa's plan. After the Shang dynasty falls, Nüwa allows Daji to be executed while avoiding responsibility for the actions needed to bring about the dynasty's collapse. Shi describes this as "killing with a borrowed knife and burning the bridge" (借刀杀人又过河拆桥), arguing that it illustrating the gods' hypocrisy in the novel.

In an analysis published in The Paper, Zeng Yuli examines Daji's role through the lens of ancient Chinese political thought. Zeng argues that, because rebellion by a minister against a ruler (臣伐君) was traditionally regarded as morally unacceptable, the author of Investiture of the Gods uses Nüwa and Daji to provide a divine justification for the Zhou conquest of the Shang dynasty. According to Zeng, by portraying Daji as the archetypal "femme fatale" (红颜祸水), the novel attributes the fall of the Shang dynasty to demonic influence rather than political failure. Zeng further argues that Daji serves as a political scapegoat, and that her execution at the end of the story helps preserve the moral legitimacy of the new Zhou regime despite the unfairness of her fate.

In a feminist literary critique published by The Paper, You Haihong discusses the portrayal of women in Ming and Qing dynasty fiction, arguing that female characters are often subjected to extreme violence by "righteous" authorities in ways that reinforce patriarchal values. You identifies Daji as an example of this pattern, arguing that, as a female demon occupying the lowest position in the mythological hierarchy, she is portrayed as doomed from the outset and has no status from which to defend herself. You further argues that Nüwa's execution of the fox demons represents an act of "crossing the river and destroying the bridge" (过河拆桥过桥抽板), and interprets it as evidence of Nüwa's hypocrisy (外宽内忌两面三刀) rather than an act of divine justice.

Archaeological reassessment

Archaeological evidence confirms that the folklore surrounding Daji's fox-like nature was firmly established by the Han dynasty. Relief carvings discovered in a Han dynasty tomb in Feixian, Shandong province, depict an execution scene featuring the Duke of Zhou and a prominent figure labeled as Su Daji. In the carving, Daji is depicted wearing noble attire but possesses a large, distinct, four-curved fox tail, illustrating that her mythological transformation into a fox demon had already permeated popular culture centuries before it was codified in Ming dynasty literature.

Recent archaeological and historical research led by Academia Sinica suggests that Daji's historical reality was drastically different from her literary portrayal. Based on oracle bone inscriptions and the excavated tombs of other Shang dynasty queens, such as Fu Hao, researchers argue that Shang royal women held immense political and military authority. Far from being a secluded palace consort, Daji likely functioned as a high-ranking military commander and ritual leader. Historical reconstructions suggest she would have worn leather armor, commanded troops from a chariot, and participated actively in the Shang dynasty's military campaigns.

In popular culture

Further information: List of media adaptations of the Investiture of the Gods

In January 2024, the Yuntai Mountain scenic area in Jiaozuo attracted public attention after hiring performers in fox-themed costumes to portray Daji and interact with visitors. The activity received coverage from national media and led to online discussion about the use of historical and mythological figures in tourism promotion.

See also

• Bao Si
• Bo Yikao
• Femme fatale
• Jade Pipa
• Jiutou Zhiji Jing
• Nüwa
• Tamamo-no-Mae
• Dal-Gi

Sources

• Chen, Ya-chen - Women in Chinese martial arts films of the new millennium narrative analyses and gender politics (2012) - ISBN 9780739139103
• Epstein, Maram - Competing discourses: Orthodoxy, authenticity, and endangered meanings in late Imperial Chinese fiction (2001) - ISBN 9780674005129
• Huntington, Rania - Alien kind: foxes and late imperial Chinese narrative (2003) - ISBN 9780674010949
• Kang, Xiaofei - The cult of the fox: Power, gender, and popular religion in late imperial and modern China (2006) - ISBN 9780231133388.
• Lin, Fu-shih - Modern Chinese Religion I - ISBN 9789004271647.
• Xu, Zhonglin - Fengshen Yanyi (16th century)