Hao and Wen: Lady General and Prisoner King (Shang Dynasty)

At the Yinxu ruins in Anyang, I visit the underground tomb of Lady Fu Hao, wife of King Wu Ding. Fu Hao was unusual in that she was a high-ranking military general—the most powerful of her day—as well as a

Wang, Shang, Thank you Anyang (Shang Dynasty)

According to legend, before the invention of writing the ancient Chinese used a knot-tying technique to keep their records, but the tedious process had its limits, and the Yellow Emperor was literally at the end of his rope. Enter the

Sailing a Boat on Dry Land (Xia Dynasty)

One of the most entertaining traditions of the Chinese New Year is a performance known as Sailing a Boat on Dry Land. In it, a female singer ‘wears’ a boat by carrying a long bamboo scaffold around her waist in