Originally published on December 31, 2023 in Beijing (c. 1278 – c. 1245 B.C.), she was the earliest documented female military commander and politician in Chinese history, living during the Shang Dynasty in the second half of the 13th century BC.
She was the wife of the Shang king Wuding and an outstanding female general during the Zhongxing period of the 23rd king of the Shang Dynasty.
In the unearthed oracle bone documents, the name "women's good" frequently appears.
According to the unearthed oracle bone inscriptions, she was ordered to fight on the battlefield many times and made great contributions to the expansion of the territory of the Shang Dynasty. She was also often appointed to preside over various rituals such as worshipping the heavens, ancestors, and sacred springs, and served as an official of divination.
Nuhao is a strange woman who can write and martial arts, her life did not live in the harem to enjoy the glory and wealth, but led the army of the Shang Dynasty to conquer the north and south, and made great achievements, becoming an indispensable female general of the Shang King Wuding. She expanded the territory of the Shang Dynasty and made outstanding contributions to the stability and prosperity of the Shang Dynasty.
Under her wise leadership, the Shang Dynasty army repeatedly defeated the Qiang, Tufang, Bafang and other surrounding tribes, which made the Shang Dynasty's territory continue to expand and its national strength to increase.
Under the leadership of the woman, the Shang Dynasty army not only performed well in the war, but also demonstrated superb cultural literacy and organizational skills in various ceremonial activities. She was not only good at commanding armies in battle, but also proficient in divination, sacrifice and other clerical work, and was an outstanding figure in many fields such as politics, military affairs, and culture in the Shang Dynasty.
However, she unfortunately passed away in her thirties. Wu Ding was very sad, held a grand funeral for her, and gave her the nickname "Xin". During the Shang Dynasty, "Xin" was one of the highest rank nicknames, indicating the important position of women in the history of the Shang Dynasty.
In general, she is the earliest documented female military commander and politician in Chinese history, and her life is full of legends. Her leadership, military skills, and cultural literacy have all been fully reflected, and she has made great contributions to the development of the Shang Dynasty.
The Tomb of Nuhao is a tomb of a member of the royal family of the Shang Dynasty excavated in 1976 in the southwest of the base site of Group C of Zongmiao District of Yinxu Palace in Anyang, Henan Province, and is the only tomb of a member of the royal family of the Shang Dynasty that has been preserved intact since the scientific excavation of Yinxu. The tomb is 56 meters, 4 meters wide from east to west, 75 meters, with an area of about 20 square meters. On the tomb, there is a hall called "Mother Xinzong" by the oracle bones, and it is a temple building built by the Shang king Wuding to worship his wife.
In the tomb of the woman, a large number of burial goods were unearthed, including bronze, jade, gemstone, ivory and other cultural relics of different textures, a total of 1,928 pieces. Among them, there are 468 bronzes, and the inscriptions are mostly engraved with the words "women's good" or "good". These burial objects reflect the luxurious life of the upper class of society and the high-level ritual system at that time, and provide a lot of information and materials for relevant academic research in China.
The unearthed cultural relics of the tomb are mainly preserved in the Henan Provincial Museum, the National Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Among them, the Henan Provincial Museum and the Anyang City Museum have a large collection of bronze and jade artifacts from the tomb of Nuhao, while the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has a large collection of pottery and stone tools. In addition, the Capital Museum once held the "Queen's Mother and Daughter General - Special Exhibition to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Archaeological Excavation of the Yinxu Women's Tomb", which exhibited some of the unearthed cultural relics of the Women's Tomb.
Through exhibitions, research and publications, these institutions display and introduce the excavated cultural relics of the Tomb to the public, providing important support for the promotion of related academic research and cultural exchanges.
Chinese civilization is generally not only recorded, but also generally supported by unearthed cultural relics. The story of the woman, especially the excavation of the tomb of the woman, is a typical case.
End of full text) Legend: Why was China not conquered by the whites?
It is said that the Shang Dynasty did suffer from the invasion of white armies during the Women's Good Era. At the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, the Aryans invaded China on a large scale, but were successfully repelled by an army led by Nuhao. The result of this war was the annihilation of the white army, and the captives became slaves of the Shang nobles. After that, the Aryans did not pose another threat to China for a long time.
It is estimated that the Shang king's army at that time was around 70,000 men. The army led by the woman reached 13,000 people at its peak. In those days, it was a very large army. (At the time, the country's population was estimated to be only about 5 million.) ）