Mount Qingqiu
Mythological Narrative
Mount Qingqiu stands toward the eastern end of the first southern range; a further march east reaches Mount Jiwei, which squats upon the Eastern Sea, and there the chain ends. The text inventories the mountain in its usual manner: jade on the sunlit southern slope, and on the shaded north qinghuo, a green mineral pigment prized by ancient painters. The Ying River rises here and flows south into the Marsh of Jiyi.
The mountain is famous for its tenants. Its beast is the nine-tailed fox, infant-voiced and man-eating; its bird is the guanguan, whose feathers worn on the body dispel confusion; its river holds the chiru, fish-bodied and human-faced, a cure for scabies when eaten. One peak thus fields a marvel each of beast, bird, and fish, every one with a stated use — no other mountain in the southern classic is so well stocked.
The name outgrew the mountain. The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas records a Land of Qingqiu whose foxes have four legs and nine tails, and the Classic of the Great Wilderness repeats it; Han writers counted a nine-tailed fox from Qingqiu among the auspicious signs. In today's fantasy fiction, film, and television, 'Qingqiu' has become shorthand for the homeland of fox spirits, making this perhaps the most frequently borrowed place-name in the entire book.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Mount Qingqiu.
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Chiru
A fish of the Ying River on Mount Qingqiu, wholly fish-bodied but with a human face and a call like a mandarin duck; eating it was said to prevent scabies.
Guanguan
A bird of Mount Qingqiu shaped like a turtledove, its call like people scolding one another; wearing its feathers was said to keep one from confusion.
Nine-Tailed Fox
A fox with nine tails from Mount Qingqiu whose cry sounds like a wailing infant; it eats people, yet its flesh wards off gu sorcery. Later ages recast it from royal omen to bewitching temptress.
Gods of the Southern Mountains
The collective mountain gods of the three southern ranges: bird-bodied and dragon-headed in the first, dragon-bodied and bird-headed in the second, dragon-bodied and human-faced in the third, each with prescribed rites.