The story of Fu Hao - BBC Bitesize

Who was Fu Hao?

Fu Hao was one of King Wu Ding’s 64 wives. She became an important and powerful figure in Shang society.

She was a powerful military general, which was an unusual role for a woman to have at that time. She was also a high priestess who performed religious and spiritual duties.

She died around 1200BC. Her tomb, in which she was buried, was discovered in 1976 and revealed lots of information about her life.

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Important words

Important words on Fu Hao.

Keyword	Definition
Archaeology	A way of studying the past by looking at objects and clues from the past.
Dynasty	A family line of rulers.
High priestess	A woman who performs religious and spiritual duties.
Jade	A hard, green stone used for ritual objects and ornaments.
King	A male ruler of a country or state.
Oracle bones	Animal bones covered in ancient writing.
Tomb	A special place where people were buried after they died.

What do we know about Fu Hao?

Fu Hao was a wife of King Wu Ding.

He had 64 wives.

Fu Hao was a military general, which was unusual for a woman at that time.

She had up to 13,000 troops. Together, they won many battles.

She was also a high priestess who performed religious rituals and sacrifices.

What was in Fu Hao’s tomb?

In 1976, the tomb of Fu Hao was discovered.

A photo of a reconstruction of Fu Hao's tomb. — Image caption,
A reconstruction of Fu Hao's tomb, as it was discovered by archaeologists, in in the The Yin Ruins (Yinxu) in Anyang, China.

Discovered in the tomb were:

more than 700 jade objects
more than 500 bone objects
400 bronze objects
16 dogs
16 human sacrifices
many weapons including battle axes

Some of the jade objects in Fu Hao’s tomb were ones she had collected during her life, some of the items were already very old. Jade is a hard, green stone that was very precious in the Shang Dynasty and was used to make special ornaments and ritual items.

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