Who was Fu Hao?
This week I have been watching short documentaries of the discovery of Fu Hao and her tomb. A problem I came across was that many of the videos I have watched source their information from documentaries that are in Mandarin. However, I was able to find out more information on Fu Hao and her discovery.
During the cultural revolution in China in 1975, a lot of lands were being leveled in order to make new farmlands. Female archaeologist, Zheng Zhen Xiang, knew that this risked archaeological sites being destroyed. She convinced village officials to allow her to search for archaeological sites where the capital of the Shang Dynasty was. They dug for days when they finally came across the tomb of Fu Hao which is the only tomb of Shang royalty that had not been looted. Before this, no one knew of Fu Hao since she is not present in historical writing. They then turned to oracle bones where Fu Hao’s name had been carved over 200 times. Here they were able to make the conclusion that Fu Hao had been married to King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty. Unlike King Wu Ding who was mentioned and praised many times in historical writings, Fu Hao is absent. If I am able to find enough information, I want to research more about the reasons why Fu Hao was left out of history. I vaguely remember hearing that women’s rights in China moved backward after the Shang dynasty, so I am wondering if she was purposely left out because she didn’t fit the stereotypical women at the time the historical writings were written, long after the Shang Dynasty.
Wow! I find it so interesting that you have been doing this outside research and would love to hear more about the films you are watching. It’s so interesting to me that Fu Hao was left out of history unlike King Wu Ding. My project will be about the erasure of women from the archive, so I would love to do more research on how Fu Hao was left out. Super interesting stuff!