The Fox Wife

Bao is one of the two main characters and the novel’s protagonist. His section of the story is told in the third person. Bao, 63, is a retired teacher and scholar who failed to follow in his father and older brother’s footsteps to become a local government official per his mother’s wishes. He is Tagtaa’s childhood friend and first love, despite never admitting his feelings and losing the opportunity to marry her. As Tagtaa left to be married in Inner Mongolia, Bao accepted his mother’s matchmaking efforts. The novel’s tension culminates with Bao and Tagtaa’s reunion.

Through Bao, the novel suggests that magic comes with a price. Because of a childhood illness, Bao’s nanny once prayed to the fox god to remove some of his yin. Doing so made him shadowless, left him in a half-dead state in his old age, and invalidated his attempts to succeed in examinations but gave him the ability to detect lies when spoken. In his older years, Bao uses his ability to detect lies in his detective work, though he describes himself as being “more of a fixer. Someone who smooths feelings, arranges deals” (14). His physical appearance inspires trust: He looks “older now, bandy-legged with a face like a loyal dog” (14).

Bao has a particular interest in foxes since Tagtaa once told him of her childhood encounter with one. He becomes involved in Snow’s journey when hired by a restaurant owner who discovered a smiling girl frozen dead near his restaurant. He finds out her identity and how she is tied to Bektu and Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang later hires him to find his escaped wife-to-be, who turns out to be Snow.

Bao is a dynamic character in that he changes from the beginning of the novel to the end. Bao transforms when Kuro restores his upset life force, or qi. Change is exerted on him, rather than being propelled from within.

Bektu is the main antagonist and villain of the narrative. A Manchurian photographer, Bektu has a “large, muscular frame, which [i]s going to fat” (222). Through his photography, Bektu operates a blackmailing operation where he takes compromising photographs of individuals to extort money from them. He took a compromising picture of Bohai, Chen, and Lu with a banner calling for the end of the imperial family. As part of the revolutionary movement, Bektu works as a courier between members of the movement. Because of his large debts, he tries to exploit Bohai and the others.

Bektu is a flat or static character who doesn’t change throughout the novel. He is consistently evil and unfeeling. Two years before the novel’s events, Jiang the hunter found a white fox cub—Kuro and Snow’s daughter—for him. Bektu was unsatisfied since she was an infant, and he and Jiang broke her legs and left her for dead. This event drives the novel’s plot: When Snow found out about Bektu’s involvement, he became her prey, and she hunts him down across China and Japan.

Shiro is a secondary character in the novel. He is a self-serving antagonist and an occasional ally to Snow. He is a fox like Snow and Kuro but does not share their moral ethics. He uses his influences liberally, regardless of the body count and psychological distress he leaves behind. His physical appearance reflects his conniving and deceitful nature. The narrative describes him as “thin, [having] humorous eyes and a pale complexion. Clever hands that move gracefully. He has a peculiar two-faced quality, meaning you can read two different emotions on his face at the same time” (46).

Shiro has always harbored romantic affection for Snow, despite her marriage to Kuro. He typically gathers women like Yuling who financially support him and grow addicted to his presence, and he manipulates men like Bohai to extract money from their investments. He often uses others’ weaknesses—like Bohai’s fear of his family’s curse—to put them under his thrall. At the same time, Shiro is not one dimensional. Unlike Bektu, he is a complex character with a good and bad side. On the one hand, he is callous with human lives and tries to manipulate Snow and Kuro. On the other, he genuinely cares for Snow and will often try to help and save her when she’s in a bind. His sincere affection for Snow reveals his more nuanced nature.

Tagtaa, or Snow’s old lady (also called tai furen), is a secondary character, an ally to Snow, and Bao’s former love interest. She is the daughter of Bao’s neighbor and a Mongolian concubine who was often ostracized in society because of her lineage and unbound feet. She is described as “resembl[ing] your average granny. Small, upright, and rather sweet, despite her daughter-in-law’s characterization of her as picky” (26).

Tagtaa has a kind nature. This is evidenced by her closeness with her stepson and her fear that the family curse would kill him if she gave birth to a boy. Her compassion is also evident in her relationship with Bohai. She is very protective of him, given that Bohai’s father is expecting another child from his concubine.

As a child, she once encountered Kuro in fox form and was saved by him in human form—a memory that she has cherished all her life and that sparked jealousy in Bao. Her and Bao’s unfinished love story drives much of the novel’s tension. Though she was never able to capitalize on her love for Bao when they were young, the end of the novel suggests that they might yet find a way to each other in their elder years.