there is a message from national
treasures please check it in records of
the grand historian suma Qin says that
the shang dynasty was founded by the
descendant of a Phoenix and that it was
dominated by men had turned and wings
down there's something graceful and
delicate about this Jade Phoenix it's
one of the many Jade pieces that have
come to light in excavations of the yein
ruins the tomb belonged to foo how wife
of Oden Shang Dynasty King she's
mentioned almost two hundred times in
oracle bones found in the in ruins so
she must have been an extremely
noteworthy individual surprisingly so
for those male dominated times indeed
other objects excavated from the to
suggest that this jade Phoenix some
syrup rather well alongside almost 800
Jade pieces archaeologists have
uncovered five hundred hair pins as well
as bronze mirrors combs exquisite ivory
cups and a host of other objects often
meticulously carved from precious stones
and other valuable materials Fuu how it
seems was very much a lady as proud and
keen as preening herself as any Phoenix
in a sense this is exactly what we might
expect to find in a woman's tomb
especially that of a queen
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but other more eyebrow-raising fines
have also been made hundreds of bronze
weapons and sacrificial vessels were
buried alongside foo how the sorts of
things you'd find in the tomb of a
warrior king the most outstanding of
these is a battle ax engraved with foo
house name foo how then was no meek and
mild queen consort here perhaps was a
woman who wielded power rather more
directly
if the archeological evidence is
anything to go by a picture of foo how
emerges bold and brave leading from the
front in battle performing important
sacrificial rites a landowner in her own
right it's a picture that turns received
wisdom on its head
traditionally credit for bringing the
Xiang to the peak of their power has
gone to King Wu Dean
maybe this remarkable woman through how
was in fact responsible for many of its
achievements a military leader as well
as a queen it's possible that fou Hal
put her formidable abilities at the
disposal of the state as tough
inflexible as bronze itself as strong
and smooth as Jade here was a woman as
skilled in the arts of statecraft
as she was in those of Ana sold a woman
who raised both her children and the
Shung state to new heights of power and
glory as wool Dean's beloved wife
confidante and comrade in arms through
Hal died at the age of 33 plunging Liu
ding into grief he had her buried near
his palace and built an ancestral Hall
above her tomb posthumously naming her
machine his steam in which she was held
as indicated by the sheer quantity of
objects buried with her of all the tombs
located outside the central Shang
Dynasty mausoleum foo house is the only
intact royal tomb in the in ruins
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above all it's this elegant Jade Phoenix
that testifies most eloquently and
potently to her memory a true legendary
woman whose independence and noble
character earned her the respect and
admiration of a whole kingdom almost
four thousand years ago maybe one of the
first ever to show the world what women
were really capable of
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