The Zhou Dynasty era consisted of three periods: Western Zhou (1046-771 BC), the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), and the Warring States Period. In victory, a noble redressed matters of honor and brought glory to his ancestors, something symbolized by the mound of dead enemies placed by his ancestral temple. In matters of inheritance, the Zhou dynasty recognized only patrilineal primogeniture as legal. Major philosophies and religions emerged that were the basis of Chinese belief in later eras, such as Confucianism and Daoism. Despite these similarities, there are a number of important differences from medieval Europe. During the Zhou dynasty, China underwent quite dramatic changes. In about 771 b.c., the enemies attacked the Zhou capital of Hao. When did they finish building the Great Wall of China? Over time, Zhou kings lost their ability to control these lords, and the lords became increasingly independent. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In 771 BCE, in what became a telling sign of weakness, the Zhou king was murdered and his young successor was compelled to relocate farther east, to a capital closer to the heart of the North China Plain. Corrections? They presented a universe with multiple heavenly and hellish realms populated with divinities and demons. [27][28][f] According to the historian Li Feng, the term "Rong" during the Western Zhou period was likely used to designate political and military adversaries rather than cultural and ethnic "others". 5. What little we know about his life comes primarily from the Analects, a record of conversations Confucius held with his students compiled after he died. According to one passage, a lord once asked one of Confuciuss students about his master, but the student fell silent. The Zhou heartland was the Wei River valley; this remained their primary base of power after conquering the Shang. In the eleventh century BCE, the Zhou state was a minor power on the western periphery of the Shang realm, located along the Wei [way] River. Second, they issued proclamations explaining to conquered peoples why they should accept Zhou rule. The capital was sacked, and he was killed. Over a half millennium, Zhou nobility engaged in escalating warfare with each other over matters small and large. Hence, it is hardly surprising that histories inform us that the many lords ceased to pay visits to the kings court. However, in the course of doing so, he reinterpreted the past and imbued the virtues he stressed with rich, new meanings. The principal purpose of these Daoists was to attend to a persons physical and psychological well-being. Established during the Western period, the Li (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: l) ritual system encoded an understanding of manners as an expression of the social hierarchy, ethics, and regulation concerning material life; the corresponding social practices became idealized within Confucian ideology. In later generations, lords simply became more interested in and identified with their own territories, and they had little sense of solidarity with what were at best distant cousins ruling neighboring feudal states. The Sui Dynasty was a short, intense dynasty, with great conquests and achievements, such as the Grand Canal and the rebuilding of the Great Wall. So Han Dynasty abolished the Qin legal system and advocate Confucianism to make the government friendly to its people and make the people obey the rules of government. First, they established a secondary capital farther east at Luoyang [low-yawng], closer to the North China Plain. To mobilize large numbers of men for war and supply them with weapons and grain, kings devised ways to make their realms more productive and compliant with their will. Among them, the most successful was the state of Qin, which eventually conquered all of China and became an empire. It was technically the longest dynasty, though the Zhouhad effectively lost power by 770 BC. It lasted for over 800 years and included the reigns of 37 emperors. The two most important early books belonging to this tradition are: the Laozi (Old Master) and Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang). The Eastern Zhou was characterized by an accelerating collapse of royal authority, although the king's ritual importance allowed over five more centuries of rule. For this, Sunshu is credited as China's first hydraulic engineer. But they fought even more fiercely. There was also a great philosophical flowering: the schools of Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism developed in that period. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The Zhou Dynasty succeeded the Shang Dynasty. Around 1046 BC, Wen's son Wu and his ally Jiang Ziya led an army of 45,000 men and 300 chariots across the Yellow River and defeated King Zhou of Shang at the Battle of Muye, marking the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. There were five peerage ranks below the royal ranks, in descending order with common English translations: gng "duke", hu "marquis", b "count", z "viscount", and nn "baron". The Zhou dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved from the oracle script and bronze script into the seal script, and then finally into an almost-modern form with the use of an archaic clerical script that emerged during the late Warring States period. In the early centuries of Zhou rule, during the Western Zhou (1046 771 BCE), Zhou kings dispatched kinsmen to territories he granted to them (see Map \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Over the course of the first millennium CE, Daoism also became a popular and institutionalized religion. To govern is to rectify. Nobles of the Ji family proclaimed Duke Hui of Eastern Zhou as King Nan's successor after their capital, Chengzhou, fell to Qin forces in 256 BC. Eventually, these states acquired more power than the king, beginning a period of conflict that is known, appropriately, as the Warring States Period. Stated more simply, Warring States Period rulers created administrative units and a civil service. Hence, it is hardly surprising that many lords ceased to pay visits to the kings court. In later centuries, in China, Confucius was revered as a sage and teacher, and even today outside of China some people might think of him as a stern pedant, perhaps calling to mind sayings beginning with The Master said. However, in the context of his time, Confucius was anything but stiff and rather a dynamic individual who believed he was mandated by Heaven to return the world to a more socially and politically harmonious time. The Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods: the Western Zhou (11th century BC to 771 BC) and the Eastern Zhou (770 BC - 221 BC). During the Zhou dynasty, centralized power decreased throughout the Spring and Autumn period until the Warring States period in the last two centuries of the dynasty. Jili's son Wen bribed his way out of imprisonment and moved the Zhou capital to Feng (within present-day Xi'an). He saw the practice of morality in the family as the root. [32] Furthermore, he countered Zhou's crisis of legitimacy by expounding the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven while accommodating important Shang rituals at Wangcheng and Chengzhou.[34]. Then, King Wu returned to his capital in the Wei River Valley, where he passed away in 1043 BCE. [58] Zhou is also represented by the star Beta Serpentis in asterism "Right Wall", Heavenly Market enclosure (see Chinese constellations).[59]. The dynasty was founded by Liu . Some important manufacturing sectors during this period included bronze smelting, which was integral to making weapons and farming tools. No longer able to impose their will on unruly noble lineages, Zhou kings failed to maintain a semblance of peace and order throughout the realm. In the context of his time, Confucius was a dynamic individual who believed he was mandated by Heaven to return the world to a more socially and politically harmonious time. The noble man does not abandon humaneness for so much as the space of a meal. (4.5) For Confucius, the highest virtue is humanity, and many of his conversations center upon defining what it is that makes a person humane. [39], Zhou legitimacy also arose indirectly from Shang material culture through the use of bronze ritual vessels, statues, ornaments, and weapons. For a king, however, these men might become an obstacle or pose a threat because they held this land hereditarily. In later centuries, in China, Confucius was revered as a sage and teacher. The system was canonized in the Book of Rites, Zhouli, and Yili compendiums of the Han dynasty (206 BC220 AD), thus becoming the heart of the Chinese imperial ideology. Ji Zhao, a son of King Nan, led a resistance against Qin for five years. Living in hovels and with little opportunity to leave their lords manors, these farmers were required to work his lands and also to submit a portion of the harvest from their own small farms. However, he only managed to hold some minor offices in Lu and generally failed in his political aspirations. As they did so, their lands evolved into powerful states (see Map \(\PageIndex{2}\)). Here are a few of the important statements Confucius made, and what they meant: 1. This period, in the second half of the Eastern Zhou, lasted from about 475-221 BCE, when China was united under the Qin Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army calmed down the Western Regions again, but set the capital of Xinjiang to Yili. Master Sun was a military commander and strategist who served the lords of the state of Wu just prior to the onset of the Warring States period (c. fifth century BCE). . There are several reasons why the Zhou dynasty lasted so long: Centralized government: The Zhou dynasty had a centralized system of government, with a powerful ruler at its head, which allowed for effective administration and control over a large territory. To achieve these goals, techniques were developed, including special dietary regimens, yoga, Chinese boxing, meditation, and alchemy. 4. Prior to the Warring States Period, it was the norm for nobility to hand out land in their states to kinsmen, just as it had been for the king during the Western Zhou. These nobles were allowed to rule their own lands hereditarily, so long as they observed certain obligations to their king. As the frequency and scale of warfare escalated, and states gradually gobbled each other up, the way feudal lords governed their states and conducted military campaigns changed. One of Emperor Wen's most prominent achievements was to create the imperial examination system to select talented individuals for bureaucratic positions. Over time, Zhou kings lost their ability to control these lords, and the lords became increasingly independent. Qin's unification of China concluded in 221 BC with Qin Shihuang's annexation of Qi. End of the Zhou Dynasty. The two most important early books belonging to this tradition are named after their putative authors: the Laozi (Old Master) and Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang). The Mandate determines whether an emperor of China is sufficiently virtuous to rule. They know the golden rule: what you would not want for yourself, he taught, do not do to others. (15.23) Confucius emphasized that a society cannot function if people are incapable of taking others perspectives and doing their best for them. Whenever new territory was added or a noble line was extinguished, kings created counties and appointed magistrates to manage the villages and towns in that area. The "Mandate of Heaven" is an ancient Chinese philosophical concept, which originated during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.E.). The military control of China by the royal house, surnamed Ji, lasted initially from 1046 until 771 BC for a period known as the Western Zhou, and the political sphere of influence it created continued well into the Eastern Zhou period for another 500 years. During the turmoil of the Warring States period, other individuals developed a philosophy very different from Confucianism called Daoism. Attending lords cemented their agreements by swearing oaths and drinking the blood of sacrificed animals. Fengjian. However, with the onset of the Warring States Period in the fifth century BCE, the level of violence was no longer contained by the hegemon system and codes of chivalry. After the move, the Zhou dynasty was weakened even more by a threat from within. It was the last period of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-221 BC). Thus, a dynasty once sanctioned by Heaven had lost this sanction; now, Heaven had called upon Zhou rulers to overthrow the Shang dynasty and initiate a new era of just rule. If those who lead do so by virtue and conduct themselves according to rules of propriety, people will learn from them and develop a sense of honor and shame. They used this Mandate to justify their overthrow of the Shang, and their . A noble looked for a pretext to engage in a vendetta with another lord, at which point a battle was arranged and then carried out according to the protocols of chivalry. To his mind, he was living at a time when civilization was collapsing and society was decaying. Any ruler who failed in this duty, who let instability creep into earthly affairs, or who let his people suffer, would lose the mandate. Daoists even entertained the idea that one could become immortal. [] On one hand, every son who is not the eldest and hence not heir to the lineage territory has the potential of becoming a progenitor and fostering a new trunk lineage (Ideally he would strike out to cultivate new lineage territory). The Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 BC) saw China grow, fracture into states, then unite in imperialism. Kings also militarized their kingdoms landscapes by building forts at strategically critical passes, walls to mark off boundaries, and watch towers to signal the enemys approach. He believed that Heaven ordains a certain course of life for each individual, including becoming a moral person. The first two had their origins in the later centuries of the Eastern Zhou, while Buddhism only began to arrive from South Asia in the first century C.E. 4. In 771 BCE, in what became a telling sign of weakness, the Zhou king was murdered and his young successor was compelled to relocate farther east, to a capital closer to the heart of the North China Plain. If those who lead do so by virtue and conduct themselves according to rules of propriety, people will learn from them and develop a sense of honor and shame. The Zhou dynasty had formally collapsed only 35 years earlier, although the dynasty had only nominal power at that point. The Eastern Zhou, however, is also remembered as the golden age of Chinese philosophy: the Hundred Schools of Thought which flourished as rival lords patronized itinerant shi scholars is led by the example of Qi's Jixia Academy. Qi's son, or rather that of the Huj, Buzhu is said to have abandoned his position as Agrarian Master (Chinese: ; pinyin: Nngsh) in old age and either he or his son Ju abandoned their tradition, living in the manner of the Xirong and Rongdi (see HuaYi distinction). Lords of the seven most powerful states lost respect for the Zhou kings and even assumed the same title, thus claiming the right to unify all of China under their rule. Zhou kings remained there for the next five hundred years, during the period called the Eastern Zhou. Qin Emperor Hanwu, Tang Zong and Song Zu. How did warlords weaken the Zhou Dynasty? This manual of military strategy and tactics stresses the importance of formulating a strategy that ensures victory prior to any campaigning. The Mandate of Heaven was presented as a religious compact between the Zhou people and their supreme god in heaven. In the early 1600s, dynastic struggle quickly tore Russia apart, soon joined by famine and invasion, earning the name the Time of Troubles. The system, also called "extensive stratified patrilineage", was defined by the anthropologist Kwang-chih Chang as "characterized by the fact that the eldest son of each generation formed the main of line descent and political authority, whereas the younger brothers were moved out to establish new lineages of lesser authority. The stability of that arrangement lasted some 200 years before it began to collapse with the increasing local interests of the 20 or more feudal lords. The communication system was also greatly improved through the construction of new roads and canals. [41][42] According to Tao (1934: 1731), "the Tsung-fa or descent line system has the following characteristics: patrilineal descent, patrilineal succession, patriarchate, sib-exogamy, and primogeniture"[43]. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. 4: China and East Asia to the Ming Dynasty, Book: World History - Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 (Berger et al. Prior to the Warring States Period, Zhou kings were still accorded a level of respect, at least as symbols of unity and nominal heads of the Zhou feudal order. The book of odes written during the Zhou period clearly intoned this caution.[38]. The Zhou dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhu [o]; Old Chinese (B&S): *tiw[4]) was a royal dynasty of China (1046 BC 256 BC) that followed the Shang dynasty. The king and his regent did so by implementing three policies. This page titled 4.7: The Long Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BCE) is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Israel (University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials) . [22] For example, Chinese philosopher Mencius (372289 BCE) acknowledged that King Wen of Zhou had ancestry from among the Xirong, as King Wen's descendants, the Zhou kings, claimed ancestry from the legendary cultural hero Hou Ji, who might be related to the Xirong through his mother Jiang Yuan;[23][24][25][26] additionally, the historical narrative and commentary work Zuo Tradition (late 4th-century BCE) mentioned that the baron of Li Rong (Chinese: ) (in today western China), after being defeated by Jin, married off his daughter Li Ji (Chinese: ; lit. This Heaven is less a deity than a higher moral order, a kind of beneficent presence. In using this creed, the Zhou rulers had to acknowledge that any group of rulers, even they themselves, could be ousted if they lost the mandate of heaven because of improper practices. Decorum was important to Confucius. These jobs came to symbolize proper order in society. Over time, however, Zhou kinship feudalism failed to function as intended by the founding rulers. It succeeded the Qin dynasty (221-207 bce). The magistrates job would then be to register the population, maintain law and order, collect tax revenue, and conscript people for labor projects and military campaigns. Confucius lived just prior to the Warring States Period (551-479 BCE). All warfare is deception, Master Sun states. Over the next two centuries, this title changed hands several times, going to the lord of the most powerful state. Indeed, Zhou kings granted land and noble titles to kinsmen in exchange for obedience, periodic visits to the kings palace, tribute, and military support. [51] Other possible cultural influences resulting from Indo-European contact in this period may include fighting styles, head-and-hooves burials, art motifs and myths. He was a cruel emperor that. The Great Wall of China's history began in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), was first completed in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), and was last rebuilt as a defense in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Shang dynasty was conquered by the people of Zhou, who came from farther up the Yellow River in the area of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province. These lords dukes, marquis, earls, and baronsthen took their families, contingents of soldiers, and emblems of nobility to the granted territory and set up palaces and ancestral temples in walled towns. During this time, some of Chinas greatest military treatises were written, most notably the Art of War by Master Sun [sue-in]. This practice was referred to as Two Kings, Three Reverences. The beginning date of the Zhou has long been debated. Trade was increased, towns grew up, coinage was developed, chopsticks came into use, and the Chinese writing system was created out of its primitive beginnings in the Shang period. Master Zhuang, however, lived during the fourth century BCE. It was not until the Dong Zhou and the classical age of Confucius and Laozi that unique local traditions became apparent. Historians call this method of governing Zhou kinship feudalism. After announcing the impending campaign at the ancestral temple, a lord and his kinsmen, accompanied by farmer foot soldiers, would proceed in their chariots to a prearranged location and engage in a skirmish. The glue that held the Zhou feudal order together was deference to the king and his Mandate and reverence for their shared historyincluding, most importantly, the deceased spirits of their related ancestors. ), known as the Western Zhou (1046-771 B.C. Under this system, it was the prerogative of spiritual authority to withdraw support from any wayward ruler and to find another, more worthy one. Duke Hui of Wei, in 344 BC, was the first to claim the royal title of king (Chinese: ) for himself. When King Ping was relocated to Luoyang, he ruled from a much smaller royal domain surrounded by approximately 150 feudal states and their lords. With the decline of the feudal kings power, de facto power fluctuated among various of the feudal chiefs as they were able to make themselves overlords. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The original Zhou capital had been located near present-day Xian in Shaanxi on the Wei River above its confluence with the Huang He (Yellow River). 1 These selections from the Analects are translated in De Bary and Bloom, ed., Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. Over the next two centuries, this title changed hands several times. For example, in 771 BCE, King You [yo] was attacked by the allied forces of the lord of Shen and tribal peoples residing out west. The first was Duke Huan of Qi [who-an of chee]. In addition to these rulers, King Wu's immediate ancestors Danfu, Jili, and Wen are also referred to as "Kings of Zhou", despite having been nominal vassals of the Shang kings. King Hui of Zhou married a princess of the Red Di as a sign of appreciation for the importance of the Di troops. . By so doing, ones health would be preserved and life prolonged. Later, Confucius asked him, Why did you not say: As a man, when agitated in thought he forgets to eat, joyfully forgetting his cares, not realizing that old age is near at hand?. Among them, the most successful was the state of Qin, which eventually conquered all of China and became an empire. [35] In 403 BC, the Zhou court recognized Han, Zhao, and Wei as fully independent states. The arts of the early Xi Zhou were essentially a continuation of those of the Shang dynasty. But this goal wont be accomplished through more seeking and more knowledge. A person of humanity is, for instance, one who is capable of empathy and unselfish concern for the welfare of others. ), the ruling house of Zhou exercised a certain degree of "imperial" power over most of central China. Large bronzes were cast to commemorate these occasions (see Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). During Confucius's lifetime in the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou kings had little power, and much administrative responsibility and de-facto political strength was wielded by rulers of smaller domains and local community leaders. The later Wei statesman Ximen Bao, who served Marquis Wen of Wei (445396 BC), was the first hydraulic engineer of China to have created a large irrigation canal system. What little we know about his life comes primarily from the Analects, a record of conversations Confucius held with his students compiled after he died. They found that to make a empire beloved by its people, you should be nice to them. Indeed, Zhou kings granted land and noble titles to kinsmen in exchange for obedience, periodic visits to the kings palace, tribute, and military support. In later centuries, the Daoism of these early philosophers was taken in new directions. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. When the Qin dynasty fell and was replaced by the Han dynasty, many Chinese were relieved to return to the more humane virtues of Confucius. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. Brashier writes in his book "Ancestral Memory in Early China" about the tsung-fa system of patrilineal primogeniture: "The greater lineage, if it has survived, is the direct succession from father to eldest son and is not defined via the collateral shifts of the lesser lineages. Young men should be filial at home and respectful to their elders when away from home. (1.6) Filial piety is central to Confuciuss thought. Stated more simply, Warring States Period rulers created administrative units and a civil service. Should a young man learn to be respectful and reverent towards parents and elders, he will become a humane person, and humane people are far more likely to contribute in a positive way to society. Jade ornaments and objects were used lavishly for funerary and ritual purposes, and ornamental carvings reflected superb craftsmanship. Here are a few of the important statements Confucius made, and what they meant: 1. They presented a universe with multiple heavenly and hellish realms populated with divinities and demons. Iron, ox-drawn plows, crossbows, and horseback riding were all introduced; large-scale irrigation and water-control projects were also instituted for the first time, greatly increasing the crop yield of the North China Plain.