Introduction: Fuhao was the wife of King Wuding of Shang Dynasty. Fuhao had a good name, and she was a relative title. In the bronze inscriptions, she was also called stepmother Xin. A large number of oracle bone inscriptions unearthed show that Fu Hao was ordered to fight on the battlefield many times and made great contributions to the expansion of the Shang Dynasty's territory. Fuhao was often ordered to preside over various rituals such as offering sacrifices to heaven, ancestors, and sacred springs, and was also appointed as a divination officer. However, Fu Hao unfortunately died young. Wu Ding was very sad and buried her next to his palace.
A good woman
She is an outstanding female general
She is a big shot.
Her name appears frequently in the existing oracle bone documents. Among the more than 10,000 oracle bones unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang alone, she was mentioned more than 200 times. She was the wife of Shang King Wuding more than 3,000 years ago.
A good wife who is a queen does not like red clothes but prefers weapons. In other words, she loves weapons more than red clothes. In the Fuhao tomb excavated in 1976, many women-specific ornaments such as exquisite bone carving knives, bronze mirrors, bone hairpins, and agate beads were discovered, as well as large stone cicadas, small stone pots, stone barriers, stone jars and other ornaments for appreciation. This shows that she has a feminine and delicate side. What is surprising is that in addition to these trinkets, there are also a large number of weapons among Fuhao's funerary objects, especially a large copper ax weighing 9 kilograms, decorated with two tigers biting people, and engraved with Fuhao's inscriptions, which is particularly attractive. Attention. Later, experts verified that this was a weapon she had used during her lifetime. Fu Hao can use such a heavy weapon, which shows that she has superb martial arts skills and great strength. More importantly, the yue was a symbol of military power and royal power in ancient times. Then, we can conclude that Fu Hao must have been a female general commanding thousands of troops in that era.
In fact, as early as 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, on the jade axes of the Liangzhu Culture period, there were intricately carved female war goddesses with exposed teeth. or the image of the Great Mother Goddess. This shows that in that era, the legacy of matrilineal society still existed, and it was not unusual for women to lead soldiers in war. However, in the middle and late Shang Dynasty, when men were already dominant, the fact that a woman could possess a symbol of China's supreme military commander, such as a yue, and become the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces was enough to show that her abilities were truly extraordinary.
Our ancestors have a famous saying: The great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military service. In other words, major national affairs, apart from sacrifices and divination, were the battles to defend the border, expand territory and capture slaves. Wu Ding was a famous hero in the history of the Shang Dynasty. During his 59 years in power, he frequently went on expeditions and conquered the surrounding tribes in the northwest and southeast, greatly expanding the territory of the dynasty. The period of his rule is called the Wu Ding Zhongxing. . In this process, Fuhao is of course a very important figure. The literature at that time contains quite detailed records of the military activities that Wuhao participated in.
For example, there is an inscription in the oracle bone inscriptions that reads: Zhen, if you ascend to the throne, you will have three thousand wives, and if you ascend to the throne, you will kill the Qiang. This means that the King of Shang recruited Fuhao's 3,000 troops and 10,000 other soldiers and ordered them to conquer the Qiang Kingdom, the old enemy of the Shang Dynasty. At that time, a team of more than 13,000 people was already considered a mighty army. This was also the largest war in the history of the Shang Dynasty recorded in oracle bone inscriptions. At that time, Wu Ding's favorite generals such as Qin and Yu, who had been on the battlefield for a long time and had numerous military exploits, were all led by Fu Hao. After that battle, the power of the Qiang people was greatly weakened, and the western border of Shang was stabilized.
At that time, there was a powerful nomadic tribe Tufang more than 1,000 miles due north of the capital Anyang (now Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan). They often invaded Shang's borders wantonly and robbed people and property, which was a major worry for the dynasty for many years. Therefore, Wu Ding ordered his wife Hao to lead his troops into battle. In just one battle, he repelled the invading enemy. Fu Hao took advantage of the victory to pursue and completely defeated Hijikata. From then on, Tufang no longer dared to invade, and was eventually included in Shang's territory.
Fuhao's most exciting battle was the battle with Wu Ding to conquer Pakistan. Before the war, Fuhao and her husband agreed on a strategy. Fuhao would ambush the enemy's army in the west, while Wuding would lead the elite troops to launch a surprise attack on the Pakistani army in the east. Encircled by the Wuding Army and the Fuhao Army, the Pakistani army lost sight of one thing and lost the other. Their formation was in chaos, and they were finally surrounded and annihilated, and the southern border was pacified. This is probably the earliest ambush battle recorded in writing in China.
The importance of a good wife is not only reflected in her noble status as a queen and a first-class military general, but also in her special position as a fortune teller who presides over sacrifices. In Fuhao's era, people were superstitious about ghosts and gods, respected destiny, and performed sacrifices and divination. Especially among the Shang royal family and the slave-owning ruling class, almost all major national events required repeated divination and prayers to ghosts and gods. Therefore, sacrifice is one of the most important state activities. The priests who hold this highest clerical power must have extensive knowledge and a lofty status. Through communication with ghosts and gods, they must become the actual decision-makers of major national affairs.
According to the etiquette of the Shang Dynasty, the name of the worshipper should appear on the sacrificial objects offered in sacrifices. A large number of bronze ritual vessels found in Fuhao's tomb, including giant cooking utensils from the Shang Dynasty discovered for the first time, were all engraved with Fuhao's inscriptions, which shows the scale of the sacrifices Fuhao was commissioned to preside over and the number of times she participated in sacrificial activities. many.
Oracle records once again confirm that Fu Hao was a priest with extraordinary knowledge and the highest status in the royal family. Fuhao offered sacrifices to the deceased grandmother in the royal family, and also to the supreme heaven and earth; she could use wine and fire in the sacrifices; Fuhao could slaughter livestock and captives.
According to the inscriptions, Fuhao once held a grand sacrificial ceremony at the order of the king because of a terrible plague in the country, which included a blood sacrifice of killing people. Another time, Fu Hao sacrificed a sacred spring. In fact, there were many types of sacrifices in the Shang Dynasty, such as offering sacrifices to the sky, offering sacrifices to springs, offering sacrifices to ancestors, and to remove diseases and disasters, as well as sacrifices before going to war, etc.
During the archaeological excavations at the Yin Ruins, some tortoise shells engraved with women's beauty were also discovered. People in the Shang Dynasty used to practice divination by burning the tortoise shells with fire so that the bones of the tortoise shells would crack and create scorch marks. The fortune teller then judged the bad luck based on the texture of the scorch pattern, decided whether the thing could be done, and inscribed the result of the divination and what would happen in the future on the same piece of oracle bone. A very important preparation before divination is to prepare the tortoise shell animal bones. Because tortoise shell animal bones cannot be burned to produce scorch marks without treatment. The so-called remediation is to remove and wash the remaining meat residue, rubber bands, etc. on the tortoise shell. After drying, use a special bronze drill to drill a certain number and a certain interval of small round holes on it to prepare for burning with a fire pillar during divination. Oracle bones will show cracks. At that time, the only people capable of doing this job were fortune tellers. The diviner not only had to trim the tortoise shell and animal bones with his own hands, but also recorded the matter in an oracle and engraved it on the oracle bones that he had trimmed to show his solemnity.
Fuhao first burned the turtle bones on the fire. When the bone fragments were heated, cracks began to appear on the surface, making a slight divination sound. Fuhao seemed to hear the echoes of the gods, and then recorded them on the oracle bones. . It can be seen that Fuhao can not only preside over sacrifices and recite sacrificial inscriptions, but also carve inscriptions on oracle bones. She has a very high cultural level and is truly a talented woman with both civil and military skills.
According to historical records, there were more than 60 wives of Wu Ding, but only 3 of them had the status of queen, and the good women ranked first. According to the above description, it is reasonable for such a strange woman to be favored by Wu Ding.
There is such a record in the inscriptions: A good woman comes here; a chaste woman does not come; a good woman goes to Guojing. Judging from this information, Fu Hao may have been awarded an independent fief because of her outstanding military and political achievements. In addition to her status as queen and commander, she became a vassal with her own fief and subjects. Therefore, Fu Hao often returned to the capital to meet the King of Shang. In her own fiefdom, Fuhao was in charge of farming and economy independently, and paid tribute to the King of Shang on time. The exquisite bronzes weighing thousands of kilograms, more than 600 pieces of jade, and more than 7,000 seashells (the currency of the Shang Dynasty) found in Fuhao's tomb also show that Fuhao possessed huge wealth and power.
Unfortunately, this outstanding woman died young. It is estimated that Fuhao was only in her 30s when she died. Wu Ding was very sad when Fu Hao passed away. It is recorded in the inscriptions that Wu Ding often performed divination during her lifetime and prayed to heaven about her daily life, health, fertility, war, etc. This shows that Wu Ding had great care for his wife. Probably because of his deep love for each other, Wu Ding not only buried his beloved wife generously, but also killed 16 slaves to bury her. At the same time, he made an exception and buried his wife next to his palace so that he could see her and protect her at any time. . In addition, he also built a Xiangtang on Fuhao's cemetery, with an inscription calling his mother Xinzong, so that future generations can permanently commemorate her. Oracle bone inscriptions show that after Fu Hao's death, Wu Ding often called the fortune teller to ask:
Wu Ding: Is Fu Hao married? Zhenren: Only Zu Jia marries. Wu Ding: Is the wife married? Zhenren: Only ancestor Yi married.
Wu Ding: Are you married? Zhenren: Weichengtang will marry you.
Zu Jia, Zu Yi, and Cheng Tang were the three ancestors of the Shang Dynasty. This passage does not mean that Zu Jia, Zu Yi and Cheng Tang are the three ancestors of the Shang Dynasty. This passage does not mean to marry a good woman to the three previous kings. The word "marry" here means to welcome or receive. In other words, Wu Ding was afraid that his good wife would be alone down there, so he hoped that his ancestors could greet her and take good care of her.
It is worth mentioning that the Fuhao Tomb is the most complete Shang Dynasty tomb excavated by the archaeological community so far, and this is also thanks to Wu Ding. It was the Xiangtang foundation he built that protected Fuhao's tomb and kept it intact. Because in history, grave robbers would never dig deeper once they reached the foundation. In other words, it was Wu Ding's deep affection that allowed Fu Hao to sleep peacefully for thousands of years, and it was his sincerity that enabled us to interpret this legendary woman and their great love through the complete funerary objects.
The Fuhao Tomb is located about 100 meters northwest of Xiaotun Village in Anyang, Henan Province, and southwest of the foundation site of Group B of the Yin Ruins. It is the only fully preserved tomb of a royal member of the Shang Dynasty discovered since the excavation of the Yin Ruins. The tomb is 56 meters long from north to south, 4 meters wide from east to west, and 75 meters deep.
Fuhao Xiangtang (Muxinzong) After Fuhao's death, King Wuding built an ancestral temple building on his graveyard to commemorate Fuhao. The name of Fuhao's temple is Xin, and the Xiangtang on her tomb has an inscription calling her mother Xin Zong. This building is a scientific restoration of the ruins of Mu Xin Sect.