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.

[3]: 165  It is important to note that the methodology of the radiocarbon investigators involved accepting uncritically the purported reign length of 59 years attributed to Wu Ding in the transmitted record.

[12] The Shang kings immediately preceding Wu Ding were three of his uncles (including the famous Pan Geng, who moved the capital to Huanbei)[13] and finally his father, Xiao Yi.

The Bamboo Annals carry an entry stating that in the sixth year of his father's reign, Wu Ding was ordered to live at He (河) (ancient name for the Yellow River).

[19] According to the text, Wu Ding restrained himself from speaking even after his three-year mourning for his father's death (during which all the state affairs were discussed and managed by his court ministers) had ended:

On this the king made a writing, for their information, to the following effect: "As it is mine to serve as the director for the four quarters (of the kingdom), I have been afraid that my virtue is not equal to (that of my predecessors), and therefore have not spoken.

According to the Book of Documents, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, he conducted rituals in honour of his ancestor Da Yi (大乙), the first king of the Shang dynasty, at the Royal Temple.

In its inspection of men below, Heaven's first consideration is of their righteousness, and it bestows on them (accordingly) length of years or the contrary [...] our Majesty's business is to care reverently for the people.

He regularly wrote questions on weathers, agricultural issues for his deceased predecessors, and he held a thought that they were capable of indirectly supporting his army in battles.

On the piece of bone, four separated divinations were carved (either by the king or Zheng himself): Wu Ding's royal family, predictably, also played a part in religious practice.

The Book of Documents makes the same analogy in its chapter on the Duke of Shao, who would act as one of the Three Regents under King Cheng of Zhou approximately 250 years after Gan Pan.

These ministers carried out their principles, and displayed their merits, preserving and regulating the dynasty of Yin, so that, while its ceremonies lasted, (those sovereigns), when deceased, were assessors to Heaven, and its duration extended over many years.According to Kong Anguo's source, Gan Pan died shortly after Wu Ding inherited the throne.

They were given personal lands and expected to give tributes, portions of harvest, and military support to the Shang monarch, a practice similar to the system used by later dynastic regimes.

In two inscriptions, Guo of Zhi is recorded to have merged his local troops into the central army, which-at that time commanded by Wu-was mobilizing to battle.

Troops had both bone and bronze weapons, including máo (矛) spears, yuè (鉞) pole-axes, gē (戈) pole-based dagger-axes, composite bows.

At the time of Wu Ding, bronze weapons became widely distributed in the kingdom, both in the capital and provincial regions; in the preceding periods, they appeared in smaller numbers.

Weapons found in Shang royal tombs reveal an advanced bronze metallurgy that makes the instruments more useful in utilization than in the reign of previous rulers.

Oracle bone inscriptions dating back to Wu Ding mention a wide range of unstable connections with tribes and chiefdoms, generally addressed as fang (方).

[29] Oracle bone scripts record that the Shang dynasty maintained contact with Guifang (鬼方), a chiefdom northwest of Yin that was sometimes interpreted as "unfriendly" to the central region.

The earliest version of Chinese writing, Oracle bone script (甲骨文; jiaguwen), found on tortoise plastrons and ox scapulae, was unearthed at the royal tombs in Yinxu.

[38] They were acquired as a mature technology through interactions with nomadic tribes in Central Asia and the Northern Steppe (probably a branch of the then-Proto-Indo-European peoples),[39] and used for royal hunts and military command.

The most notable utilizations of them are war uses and tomb furnishings; the latter reflects a parallel between advancement in bronze weaponry and the sociopolitical development seen from Wu Ding's reign onward.

In terms of warfare, qualified bronzemaking settled differences between Wu Ding's armies and their rivals, which enabled him to extend both influence and land area.

At the time of Wu Ding's accession to the throne, women had a greater role to play in the exercise of official power than in subsequent Chinese culture.

Inside the tomb archaeologists found numerous Shang vessels, mirrors, bronze artifacts, weapons (probably to honour her contributions to warfare), as well as sacrificial remains of sixteen humans and six dogs.

[49] Another of Wu Ding's wives, Fu Jing (referred to in oracle bones as "Biwu" 妣戊), was probably responsible for overseeing agricultural production, as this was the subject she divined about most frequently.

Uncles: Consorts: Children: A large store of well-preserved turtle plastrons with inscriptions was discovered in 1991 at a place called Huayuanzhuang (outside the palaces at Yin).

One divination records his inquiries about the central governments' decisions: in the day xinwei, the Prince asked whether Wu Ding would send Fu Hao to launch offensive campaigns or not.

[57] The celestial phenomena were often linked to the Shang king's destiny: in fact, during the eclipse series, Wu Ding was recorded in oracle bones as having already declined in health.

His actions took place when the Shang dynasty had been experiencing sharp declines; therefore, they have been perceived as attempts to revitalize power using connecting the ruler with his most exemplary ancestors.