Background

Fu Zi was from one of the tribes neighboring the Shang Kingdom. Her royal status is amplified by an ancestor queen’s title, Queen Qiao/Tu Gui. There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.

Career

Fu Zi got married King Wu Ding, as a result of the king's desire to cultivate the allegiance of neighboring tribes by marrying one woman from each of them. Fu Zi took advantage of the semi-matriarchal slave society to rise through the ranks to became one of the King Wu Ding's three consorts.

In addition to her preeminent social status as the first queen of King Wu Ding, Fu Zi had an illustrious military and administrative career. She ranked second in command to the king. Fu Zi’s military heroics are also corroborated by her participation in royal hunts.

Fu Zi also ranked second to the king as administrator. As with a few other generals and officials, she was commanded by King Wu Ding to send out royal emissaries, to hold royal audiences, and to supervise tributary harvests of borderlands.

Fu Zi must have been involved in a life-threatening accident while hunting in Guo, a favorite hunting ground of King Wu Ding, after which she died. Her death and burial are both mentioned in the early Wu Ding period inscriptions.

Achievements

• Fu Zi was known as one of the greatest female generals. Her military power is well illustrated by her burial goods, including tribute items from the highest-ranking members of the Shang elite and major clans within the Shang domain.
  
  Fu Zi led successful campaigns against the unfriendly states of Ba in the southwest, Hu in the south, Tu and Gong in the north, Qiang in the northwest, and Yi in the northeast. Fu Zi played a pivotal role in heroically raising a huge number of men to defend the Shang domain against them.

Personality

Fu Zi was the most heroic of Shang female generals and spent much of her time defending the Shang state.

Connections

Fu Zi was the wife of King Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty and had a son Filial Ji. Her husband's concern for every aspect of Fu Zi’s life testifies his overwhelming affection for his first queen.

husband:

Wu Ding

Wu Ding was a king of the Shang dynasty in ancient China, whose reign lasted from approximately 1250–1192 B.C.

Son:

Filial Ji

Filial Ji was a meritorious heir whose queen mother died prematurely, and for this reason, the histories state, he was banished

References

• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998