Who was Daji really in Chinese history? Her reconstructed appearance is very different from the movie

Daji has long been associated with the image of a "beauty who caused the downfall of the Shang Dynasty". However, researchers have discovered that her prototype is completely different from what we think.

In many famous Chinese films and novels, it is not difficult to see that the character Dat Ky - the second queen of De Tan, the last monarch of the Shang Dynasty in Chinese history, is always portrayed as a beautiful woman who charms the king and is a great disaster for the country.

A typical example is the historical novel 'Fengshen Yanyi' by Xu Zhonglin and Lu Xijing written during the Ming Dynasty, which claimed that Daji was actually a nine-tailed fox spirit who used her beauty to bewitch King Zhou into doing many evil things, building a lake of wine and a forest of meat, and was also the cause of the destruction of the Shang Dynasty.

Image of Dat Ky in the movie "Feng Shen De Nhat Bo: Trieu Ca Phong Van (Feng Shen 1)".

However, researcher Hoang Minh Sung of the Institute of Chinese History and Language Studies has shown from his research that the historical character of Dat Ky has a completely different image from the inherent impressions of many people . He said that in reality, Dat Ky was not a Queen who only stayed in the harem but had to shoulder the responsibility of the country, and together with her husband, she put on her armor and rushed into battle on the battlefield.

Hoang Minh Sung added that from documents, archaeological sites and other related studies, it is shown that the status of women in the Shang Dynasty was actually quite high, especially for those in noble families who had to demonstrate their abilities in many fields.

For example, the queen of King Wu Ding of Shang - Fu Hao not only presided over the sacrificial ceremonies and participated in politics, but also led soldiers to conquer the battlefield with her husband. When her husband and his soldiers pursued the enemy, Fu Hao would encircle them from all sides, capture them, and escort them to Yinxu (the capital of the Shang Dynasty) to be sacrificed to the gods. Based on this historical context, not only Fu Hao but also Daji and many other women under the Shang Dynasty would have to take on similar responsibilities.

Along with that, after defeating Tran Muc Da - the key battle that caused "The Shang Dynasty's destruction and the Zhou Dynasty's establishment" (the Shang Dynasty's destruction and the Zhou Dynasty's establishment), King Tru and Dat Ky burned themselves together in jade clothes on the way to the escort. Even though after putting out the fire, there were only two charred corpses left, the Zhou people still followed the ritual, cut off their heads, hung them on flags and continued moving to the capital.

The image believed to be closest to the real image of Daji was made by the Institute of Chinese History and Language.

The researcher also added that the reason why Da Ji was 'defamed' was mainly related to the fact that the descendants of Confucianism wanted to support the image of King Wu of Zhou and Duke Ji of Zhou . They intentionally said that Da Ji participated in the government affairs, monopolized the court, made King Zhou become a tyrant, and made the people suffer in order to rationalize the Zhou Dynasty's overthrow of the Shang Dynasty.

Later, under the circumstances of "Fengshen Yanyi", Daji went from a queen who led soldiers to war with her husband to a 'red-faced disaster'. Not only Daji, Huang Mingchong also shared that in Chinese history, there were many women whose reputations were tarnished because most historians believed that they should not interfere in the court, if the country perished, the responsibility would definitely belong to women.

'It is often said that, in order to see Bao Si smile , King You of Zhou lit a fire on the fire tower (a fire tower that warns of enemy troops) to trick the vassals into running, thereby indirectly causing the loss of Gao Jing (one of the two settlements that comprised the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty) when the Quan Rong army actually invaded. However, historical research shows that there were no fire towers at that time' - Historical researcher Hoang Minh Dung added more information.

It was from these research perspectives that the Historical and Cultural Relics Exhibition Hall of the Institute of Chinese History and Language sought out painter Xi You, trying to use many methods to paint a painting that most closely resembled Daji's original appearance.

Referring to historical documents and ancient black bronze masks, the image of Dat Ky with phoenix eyes in a majestic and heroic posture, holding a bronze shield of a great noble of the Shang Dynasty, engraved on it are patterns of evil beasts and a bronze sword (a type of weapon made of bronze).