The 11th episode in the CGTN special series "If Treasures Could Talk" features a 3,000-year-old jade phoenix. It belonged to Fu Hao, a warrior queen at the time of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 B.C.).

The phoenix was among a large number of jade artifacts found in Fu Hao's tomb at the Yinxu ancient site in Henan Province, which was once the Shang's capital.

In total, Fu Hao's tomb contained 755 jade pieces and 500,000 of other artifacts, including bone hairpins, copper mirrors, bone combs, exquisite ivory cups, bone knives and precious stones, turquoise, malachite and agate. All together, they paint an image of an elegant lady who liked to dress well and enjoy the comforts of her position. The rich quality of the artifacts also points to Fu being a much-loved queen.

More unusual for a queen's tomb are the hundreds of bronze weapons and sacrificial vessels. Among them is a large bronze axe inscribed with Fu Hao's name. Evidently, this was no fragile court lady. In Shang's patriarchal society, she had an unusually powerful influence on the affairs of state.

Yinxu has also yielded more than 10,000 oracle bone inscriptions. Two hundred of them mention Fu Hao. They describe her thoughts on warfare, giving birth, suffering illness, and even her impressions of the afterlife.

Fu Hao was married to the Shang's king, Wu Ding. As a queen and general, she helped her husband strengthen his kingdom. As a mother and wife, she was hailed as a paragon of womanly virtue. Comfortable in both armor and gown, she was described as being as hard as bronze and as soft as jade.