Historical Chinese figure Daji (妲己), who is often described in literature as a malevolent spirit, was actually a female general who helped her husband, King Zhou (紂王) of the Shang Dynasty, in battle, a researcher said.
Historical texts generally describe Daji as King Zhou’s favorite concubine, and in novels and legends she is depicted as a malevolent fox spirit who was responsible for the downfall of the dynasty, said Hwang Ming-chorng (黃銘崇), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology.
However, research has shown that the queens of the Shang Dynasty wore armor and were required to follow the king onto the battlefield, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Institute of History and Philology
The museum commissioned graphic artist Chi You (蚩尤) to paint a likeness of Daji based on its records and artifacts about her to display as part of its permanent collection, he said.
“It’s a very formidable image. She is holding a shield with a zoomorphic pattern, and a bronze battle ax, and her face has the same characteristics seen in bronze masks from the era,” he said.
Huang, who is also director of the museum, said that women in the Shang Dynasty held high social status, and those of nobility were especially active in the royal court’s affairs.
Photo courtesy of the Tamsui Historical Museum
“Take Lady Hao (婦好) [the queen during the reign of King Wu Ding (武丁)], for example. She had to preside over ceremonies, participate in politics and even lead troops into battle,” he said.
Documents showed that Lady Hao was responsible for surrounding and capturing enemy forces, after Wu Ding and other generals drove them back, he said, adding that she would bring captured prisoners to Yinshang, which is now Anyang in China’s Henan Province.
“Queens during the Shang Dynasty all led troops into battle, so it stands to reason that Daji would have done so as well,” he said.
During the final battle of Shang, before the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, Daji and King Zhou escaped under the protection of the remaining Shang troops to the Deer Terrace Pavilion, where they committed self-immolation, he said.
“Confucians in later dynasties attempted to rewrite history by blaming the fall of the Shang on Daji, accusing her of meddling in politics,” he said.
Citing as an example Queen Bao Si (褒姒) of the Zhou Dynasty, Huang said that Chinese historiography often vilified women.
Bao Si is blamed in historical texts for the fall of Western Zhou, as it is said that King You (周幽王) lit warning beacons around the city numerous times to make her laugh, which allegedly resulted in an attack on the Zhou capital.
Huang said that this is untrue, as research has shown that there were no beacon towers in use during that period.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS