Wu Ding

Wu Ding

Wu Ding (Chinese: 武丁; died c. 1200 BC); personal name Zi Zhao (子昭), was a king of the Chinese Shang dynasty who ruled the central Yellow River valley c. 1250 BC – c. 1200 BC. He is the earliest figure in Chinese history mentioned in contemporary records. The annals of the Shang dynasty compiled by later historians were once thought to be little more than legends until oracle script inscriptions on bones dating from his reign were unearthed at the ruins of his capital Yin (near modern Anyang) in 1899. Oracle bone inscriptions from his reign have been radiocarbon dated to 1254–1197 BC ±10 years,: 165  closely according with regnal dates derived by modern scholars from received texts, epigraphic evidence, and astronomical calculations.: 172  Wu Ding's reign is characterized by a prosperous period of the late Shang state, with a wide network of allies and subordinates. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Wu Ding has received more than 277,173 page views. His biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 28 in 2019). Wu Ding is the 5,033rd most popular politician (down from 4,223rd in 2019).