Green Willows by the Huan River: Fu Hao, China's First Female God of War

I wield a nine-kilogram bronze battle-axe, carrying the Mandate of Heaven and royal authority above, and protecting the common people below. I fear no battlefield ablaze with smoke and war.

I am the queen of Wu Ding, the twenty-second Shang king, the creator of the Shang Dynasty’s revival and a defender of Chinese civilization.

I went from being a noble princess of a tribe to life in the royal court, where I won the Shang king’s lifelong love. Among his sixty consorts, I was the most beloved and exceptional woman.

I fought campaigns across the land, etching bloody glory into bronze axes and chariots. My life lasted only thirty-three years, yet I commanded an army of thirteen thousand, rode into battle more than ninety times, and defeated over twenty states.

In an age when divine, royal, and male authority held sway, I became a priestess with an unparalleled voice in determining national policy.

I was granted an estate with the most fertile land and had a personal guard of three thousand. I could enrich the people and strengthen the state. The people hailed me as the “Celestial Maiden of the Ninth Heaven.”

My life was glorious, and so was my death. In an unprecedented gesture, the Shang king Wu Ding buried me beside his palace, where he could be with me day and night.

My tomb contained 1,980 exquisite burial objects: 468 bronze vessels, 755 jade pieces, and 6,800 shell coins. The Shang king even held three weddings for me after my death, afraid that I would be lonely in the underworld.

This is my story. I am Fu Hao, the woman whose name was carved into oracle bones six hundred times, and who lived a uniquely brilliant life spanning three thousand years.

Moved by her life, in which she triumphed in both love and career, I transmigrate into the oracle-bone inscriptions that record her story, using modern language to recount her glorious achievements, which shine like the sun and moon, and her romantic love story, remembered for generations...