Women led armies in ancient China, researcher says
By Yang Yuan-ting and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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.