Abstract: The article analyses the image of the Chinese fox-werewolf, huli-jing, and other werewolves in the context of the Russian-Chinese cultural space created in Anna Starobinets' novel "Fox Fords". It also compares the images of the heroes of this work with other variants of the images of Chinese werewolves in Russian literature in terms of the depth and nature of their Russification. In addition, the study notes that the artistic reality of Anna Starobinets' novel is based on the principles of werewolfism and zoomorphisation. These principles are projected onto various components of the text primarily through animal comparisons and metaphors. They refer to people, natural objects, objects and abstract phenomena. Animalistic and plant motifs are manifested in the portraits and names of characters, in toponymic nomination, in landscapes, and in the language of the work. The principles of werewolfism and zoomorphisation influence the artistic time and space in "Fox Fords", which in turn, along with other elements of the text, make it possible to reveal the multilayered nature of the characters and their moral essence. The relevance of the article is determined by the high interest of domestic literary studies in the research involving images created under the influence of different cultures. In addition, modern literary studies show an increased interest in borderline phenomena in the field of literary genres ("Fox Fords" is a novel belonging to "big" literature and at the same time to fiction). The novelty of the article is due to its understanding of werewolfism and zoomorphisation not only in the mystical and physical, biological sense, but also as metaphysical and philosophical phenomena capable of characterising various aspects of reality and revealing their true nature.

Abstract: Russian and Chinese dystopias have similarities and differences in their genesis. The proximity of the dystopian texts of the two cultures is due to parallel historical and social processes, which are reflected in the plots of the corresponding works. The difference is manifested in the accents that both literature puts. In particular, we can say that there is no Chinese dystopia in the Western and Russian understanding: China sees dystopia more as fiction and satire. Despite this, Russian and Chinese dystopias have similar features. The purpose of this article is to analyze the ideological, plot, and motivational calls between A. Tvardovsky's poem "Terkin in the Next World" and Zhang Tian-yi's novel "Notes from the Spirit World". The scientific novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the author for the first time compares these works, designates genre signs of dystopia in both texts, formulates the specifics of the writer's assessment of the corresponding dystopian regime. The inhabitants of the afterlife, in which Terkin found himself, and the world of spirits are the image of contemporaries of Tvardovsky and Zhang Tian–yi, citizens of the state, which is metaphorically portrayed by writers as the reality of death. This infernal world turns out to be a mortal mirror for the political regime. In the case of "Terkin in the next world" it is an authoritarian regime, in the case of "Notes from the spirit world" it is a pseudo–liberal regime, and but in fact - oligarchic and nationalistic.