The War Goddess’s Many-Sided Life

She was the only female war goddess of the Shang Dynasty, a woman who held many offices and whose beloved king was the only one to record both their tender moments and her achievements on oracle bones.

Her name was Fu Hao!

She married into the royal city of Yin as queen, but on the day of the Rongyue sacrifice, she was framed and reduced to a palace servant. On the very night she was summoned to the king’s bed, though, she beat her husband until his face was black and blue.

By the time she had won her many glorious victories, she was queen, high priestess, chief diviner, and the highest-ranking military commander in the Shang Dynasty. Yet when her husband made a foolish mistake, she picked up a whip and chased him all around the ancestral temple.

Her life shone with brilliance. She and her beloved husband, King Wu Ding of Shang, shared a loving marriage and expanded the borders of their dynasty together.

This is a tragedy, but I would rather remember each of their loving moments, for they were carved onto oracle bones and animal bones, a legendary love story that would leave later generations envious.