You ever heard of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in the history of China?
Good, cause this isn't about her. I know I talk about Wu Zetian a lot, but there are plenty of other
prominent female historical figures in Chinese history to know about. One who's gone especially
under the radar is the protagonist of this video, a warrior queen of the Shang dynasty, who lived in
the 13th century BCE, about 3200 years ago. She's commonly referred to as Fu Hao, but that's not her name.
Fu was a title like "Lady," and Hao denotes her ancestral clan.
It should also technically be pronounced Zǐ, since it's supposed to be a family name, but everybody reads it as Hao,
so I'm just gonna call her Fu Hao for convenience.
Like the case of Wu Zetian, which is also a title and not a name, we'll probably never know Fu Hao's given name,
because the given names of women back then were considered extremely private and weren't put on record.
Not that she survived in the traditional historical records at all.
This is why I say she's a forgotten warrior queen, because most of what we know about her comes
from archeology and not written histories, which is the opposite of how it usually is in China.
Her legacy was deciphered from oracle bones, which was a way of divination back in the Shang dynasty
where they carved questions onto turtle shells or the shoulder bones of oxen, put them in a fire,
and then interpreted the cracks the fire made. There are whole pits of these oracle bones in the
Ruins of Yin, which was the capital of the Shang dynasty 3000 years ago.
Out of over 10 thousand pieces of oracle bones, Fu Hao's name is mentioned over 200 times.
She was one of 60 wives of King Wuding of Shang, and one of his 3 queens.
Okay, I know this sounds like this dude was lounging in a harem all day long, but things were
different in the Shang dynasty. These marriages were mostly political alliances with neighboring
nations, and these women had actual duties in the court. For example, while Fu Hao is mentioned a
lot in association with military affairs, there's another queen of his, Fu Jing, who seemed to be in charge
of agriculture. Also, Wu Ding might not have had these 3 queens at the same time. I mean, he ruled for 59
years. It's possible that his queens kept dying so he kept having to take another. My research gives
unclear answers on whether the Shang kings were allowed to have multiple queens at the same time,
but I'm leaning toward No. It's been the case for most of Chinese history that while you can have
as many concubines as you can afford to take care of, you can only have one main wife.
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Anyway, Wu Ding was no despot. He was a capable ruler who famously lived among commoners in his
youth, hiding his identity as a prince, so he would understand their concerns better.
In his travels, he came upon a wise hermit Gan Pan, who quickly deduced his true identity, as
so Wu Ding asked Gan Pan to be his mentor. Legends say that once Wu Ding took the throne, he didn't
speak for 3 years, he just observed his court as Gan Pan ran it. When he finally broke his silence,
he announced that he dreamt of his ancestor Cheng Tang, the founding king of the Shang dynasty,
and that Cheng Tang was sending him a sage named Yue to assist him in running the kingdom. Wu Ding
ordered the court artists to draw down Yue's features as he saw in his dream,
like they were doing a wanted sketch, and then sent people to find Yue. Of course, this was all
theatrics. Wu Ding had actually met Yue while he was undercover as a commoner and greatly admired
Yue's intellect. Problem was, Yue was a slave laborer, and there was no way a slave laborer
could become an official through normal means. So Wu Ding had to make things really dramatic and
mystical for people to tolerate Yue coming into the court. After being made chancellor, Yue did
not disappoint. He helped Wu Ding revitalize the Shang dynasty when it was on the verge of decline,
and was bestowed the family name of "Fu." Now, there is a theory that this slave turned
minister, Fu Yue, is actually Fu Hao. Because Fu Yue is prominent in all the
traditional histories, yet there's no mention of him in any of the archeological evidence,
while Fu Hao is prominent in the archeological evidence, yet there's no mention of her in the
traditional histories. I want to note here that Fu Yue and Fu Hao are written in completely
different characters. But some scholars theorize that they're the same person,
only people misinterpreted her as a dude during the passing of oral histories, and then when all
this was formally compiled like a thousand years later, after women's political participation took
a nose dive, the warrior queen Fu Hao got written down as the slave chancellor Fu Yue. Keep in mind
that this is just a theory, there is absolutely NO evidence of this beyond speculation. But it's
something to think about. Because Fu Hao did a LOT. The oracle bones make many mentions of her
leading armies on campaigns against neighboring states. One summer, early in Fu Hao and Wu Ding's
marriage, Shang was in a stalemate in a war against a Northern nation. Fu Hao wanted to lead a
reinforcement army there, but Wu Ding was unsure about it. He consulted the oracle bones, and
the outcome was positive, so he let her go. She delivered a spectacular victory, and that nation
would not appear in the oracle bones again. After this, Wu Ding trusted her wholeheartedly
on the military front. She went on to defeat over 20 border nations. In her biggest battle, she led
an army of 13,000, basically half of Shang's forces. Sometimes, Wu Ding and Fu Hao would
go on the battlefield together. Once, they pulled off a brilliant maneuver to defeat the Ba kingdom.
Fu Hao set up an ambush in the west, while Wu Ding struck the Ba troops from the east,
chasing them right into Fu Hao's ambush. When Wu Ding didn't go with Fu Hao to battle,
he would enthusiastically welcome her back after she returned from a campaign.
Once, he went 80 kilometers out of the city to meet her. When they saw each other,
they're said to have forgotten everyone else in the court and raced their chariots
together across the fields with wild abandon. Besides military campaigns, Fu Hao also went on
many diplomatic missions, and Wu Ding would ask the oracle bones if she made it to her destination
okay. She was also a priestess who conducted many rituals. AND she captured escaped criminals. And,
unlike queens in later Chinese history, she didn't live with Wu Ding, but had her own fiefdom,
properties, and treasury. She even had to pay tribute to him just like any other vassal. This
was pretty common in the Shang dynasty though. Women were much more politically active back
then. They had many female officials and generals. Two of Wu Ding's daughters were
prominent in his court. I've mentioned this in my Wu Zetian videos, but women's rights
rolled backwards across the dynasties of ancient China. A shame. And a warning.
In 1976, Fu Hao's actual tomb was discovered. Her tomb is the only intact, unlooted one
among Shang royalty, and it was because she was buried in a different place than other royals.
I'll get to the reason later. From her tomb, archeologists unearthed almost 2000 artifacts,
including over 100 weapons. Fu Hao was buried with a pair of yuè, these ax-like ritual weapons that
represented military authority. She would've held these like a scepter while commanding the
army on her war chariot. They were each about 375 millimetres wide and weighed about 9 kilograms,
or 19 pounds. One had a dragon pattern, and the other had a pattern of two tigers about to eat a
human head. These are typically only found in the tombs of male nobility of the Shang dynasty.
Beside the many weapons, Fu Hao's tomb also had plenty of cosmetic items like bone hairpins,
bronze mirrors, jade ornaments, and other jewellery. So she was looking fierce while
leading her troops. It's speculated that she was very statuesque, because they excavated a jade
ring used for archery that only fit a dude on the excavation team who was 1.75 meters tall,
or 5 foot 9. Not to mention the strength it would've taken to wield the axes I mentioned
before. There's this one jade figurine among the burial treasures that some think was modeled
after Fu Hao herself, because the robes detailing on it is very fine and the thing
sticking out at its side may be a weapon. Regardless, the treasures in Fu Hao's tomb
are a testament to the vast trade connections the Shang dynasty had.
She was buried with jade from Xinjiang, and over 7000 cowry shells that could've only been sourced
from tropical oceans and were used as currency back then. Also, there were 16 human sacrifices
and 6 canine sacrifices arranged around her tomb. That was just how the Shang dynasty was,
they loved their bronzes, oracle bones, and ritual human sacrifices. If you're interested in the
excavation and you can understand Mandarin or read Chinese, you can hear the head archeologist Zhen
Zhangxian herself talk about what happened. I'll link the video in the description.
Now, many articles about Fu Hao claim she only lived till about 33,
but I couldn't find an actual credible source for this. Some scholars speculate that based on her
range of activities in the oracle bones, it's likely she lived longer than that.
Maybe she was queen for 33 years? Though I don't know where the 33 figure comes from
at all. But however long she lived, it was much shorter than Wu Ding. The oracle bones
tell of how he fretted about her health as it declined. He asked questions like:
Are Fu Hao's teeth going to be okay? Fu Hao is ill and not getting better, is she going to die?
Fu Hao is sneezing a lot, will that get rid of the illness? Is Fu Hao's illness the work of a
previous queen's spirit? Will my ancestors protect Fu Hao? Is Fu Hao dying? Is Fu Hao really dead?
Yes, unfortunately, there was nothing Wu Ding could do but watch as Fu Hao passed away.
Heartbroken, he built her a lavish tomb not in the traditional royal burial grounds,
but right in the palace, next to his office. Some scholars speculate that this was because
she died in battle, since there were some rules back then that forbade those who died in battle
from being buried in the royal grounds, because it would bring misfortune. The oracle bones
say Wu Ding used a lot of blood from slain enemies as a sacrifice to her after her death,
which would fit this theory. Or maybe it was just Shang dynasty people being Shang dynasty people.
Another possibility is that she had died in childbirth, because there are also some
oracle bones that suggested she went through a difficult labor, and bore at least 1 son
and 2 daughters for Wu Ding. OR, perhaps going on military campaigns while being pregnant over
and over just has disastrous effects on one's health. Whatever the reason, Wu Ding burying
her separately saved her tomb from being looted like all other Shang royals'.
It's clear that Wu Ding thought a lot about her after her passing. He would pray to her
spirit before battles, and there were oracle bones with questions like "I
dreamt of Fu Hao. Is this her spirit's doing?" This eventually led to the very strange phenomenon
of Wu Ding conducting ghost marriages for Fu Hao, marrying her to no fewer than THREE Shang kings
of the past - his own ancestors. Likely, this was because he wanted them to protect her in
the afterlife, because he felt guilty that he couldn't protect her while she lived. Aww.
And so that is the story of the warrior queen Fu Hao, lost for 3000 years but unearthed
on bone shards! If you'd like to see more videos from me about obscure but amazing women from
Chinese history, please consider tipping me on Ko-Fi or supporting me on Patreon!
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