The Zhou dynasty ( ;
Old Chinese (
B&S): *''tiw'') was a
royal dynasty of China that followed the
Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in
Chinese history. 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
The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong n ...
, and the political sphere of influence it created continued well into the
Eastern Zhou
The Eastern Zhou (; zh, c=, p=Dōngzhōu, w=Tung1-chou1, t= ; 771–256 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the second half of the Zhou dynasty. It was divided into two periods: the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States.
History
In 770 ...
period for another 500 years. The establishment date of 1046 BC is supported by the
Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and David Pankenier, but
David Nivison and
Edward L. Shaughnessy date the establishment to 1045 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. In the latter period, the Zhou court had little control over its constituent states that were at war with each other until the
Qin state
Qin () was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 BC, it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted ex ...
consolidated power and formed the
Qin dynasty in 221 BC. The Zhou dynasty had formally collapsed only 35 years earlier, although the dynasty had only nominal power at that point.
This period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of
Chinese bronzeware making. The latter period of the Zhou dynasty is also famous for the beginnings of three major Chinese philosophies:
Confucianism,
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
and
Legalism. The Zhou dynasty also spans the period in which the
written script evolved from the
oracle script
Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or turtle plastrons used in pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millennium BC, and is the earliest kno ...
and
bronze script into the
seal script, and then finally into an almost-modern form with the use of an archaic
clerical script
The clerical script (; Japanese: 隷書体, ''reishotai''; Korean: 예서 (old spelling 례서); Vietnamese: lệ thư), sometimes also chancery script, is a style of Chinese writing which evolved from the late Warring States period to the Qi ...
that emerged during the late
Warring States period.
History
Foundation
Traditional myth
According to
Chinese mythology, the Zhou lineage began when
Jiang Yuan Jiang Yuan () is an important figure in Chinese mythology and history. She is recorded as having lived during ancient Chinese history. Jiang Yuan was the mother of Houji, who is a culture hero and revered as the god of millet.
Clan name and title
J ...
, a consort of the legendary
Emperor Ku,
miraculously conceived a child,
Qi "the Abandoned One", after stepping into the divine footprint of
Shangdi
Shangdi (), also written simply, "Emperor" (), is the Chinese term for "Supreme Deity" or "Highest Deity" in the theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later '' Tian'' ("Heave ...
.
['"Major Hymns - Decade of the Birth of Our People ]
Birth of Our People
["Hou Ji". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.] Qi was a
culture hero credited with surviving three abandonments by his mother and with greatly improving agriculture,
to the point where he was granted lordship over
Tai
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
, the
surname Ji, and the title
Houji
Hou Ji (or Houji; ) was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing millet to humanity during the time of the Xia dynasty.. Millet was the original staple grain of northern China, prior to the introduction of wheat. His name translat ...
"Lord of
Millet", by the
Emperor Shun. He even received sacrifice as a
harvest god. The term ''Hòujì'' was probably a hereditary title attached to a lineage.
Qi's son, or rather that of the ''Hòujì'',
Buzhu is said to have abandoned his position as Agrarian Master () in old age and either he or his son
Ju abandoned their tradition, living in the manner of the
Xirong
Xirong () or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the western extremities of ancient China (in modern Gansu and Qinghai). They were known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765–1122 BCE), as one of the Four Barbarians that fr ...
and
Rongdi (see
Hua–Yi distinction
The distinction between ''Huá'' and ''Yí'' ( zh, t=, p=Huá Yí zhī biàn), also known as Sino–barbarian dichotomy, is a historical Chinese concept that differentiated a culturally defined "China" (called Huá, Huaxia , or Xià ) from cultur ...
). Ju's son
Liu, however, led his people to prosperity by restoring agriculture and settling them at a place called
Bin, which his descendants
ruled for generations.
Tai
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
later led the clan from Bin to Zhou, an area in the
Wei River
The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization.
The source of the Wei River is close to ...
valley of modern-day
Qishan County
Qishan County () is a county in the west of Guanzhong, Shaanxi province, China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Baoji. It was the site of Zhouyuan (), the first capital of the Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chi ...
.
The duke passed over his two elder sons
Taibo and
Zhongyong to favor the younger
Jili, a warrior in his own right. As a vassal of the Shang kings
Wu Yi and
Wen Ding
Wen Wu Ding () or Wen Ding (), personal name Zi Tuo (), was a king of the Shang dynasty of Ancient China. His reign was from 1116 to 1106 BC.
Records
According to ''Bamboo Annals'', his capital was at Yin (殷) or Zimou.
In the second year o ...
, Jili went to conquer several
Xirong
Xirong () or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the western extremities of ancient China (in modern Gansu and Qinghai). They were known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765–1122 BCE), as one of the Four Barbarians that fr ...
tribes before being treacherously killed by Shang forces. Taibo and Zhongyong had supposedly already fled to the Yangtze delta, where they established the
state of Wu among the tribes there. Jili's son
Wen bribed his way out of imprisonment and moved the Zhou capital to
Feng (within present-day
Xi'an). 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
The Battle of Muye () or Battle of the Mu was a battle fought in ancient China between the rebel Zhou state and the reigning Shang dynasty. The Zhou army, led by Wu of Zhou, defeated the defending army of King Di Xin of Shang at Muye and capt ...
, marking the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou enfeoffed a member of the defeated Shang royal family as the
Duke of Song, which was held by descendants of the Shang royal family until its end. This practice was referred to as
Two Kings, Three Reverences.
Culture
According to Nicholas Bodman, the Zhou appear to have spoken a language not basically different in vocabulary and syntax from that of the Shang; a recent study by David McCraw, using lexical statistics, reached the same conclusion. The Zhou emulated extensively Shang cultural practices, perhaps to legitimize their own rule, and became the successors to Shang culture.
[Li, Feng (2006), ]
Landscape And Power In Early China
', Cambridge University Press, p. 286. At the same time, the Zhou may also have been connected to the
Xirong
Xirong () or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the western extremities of ancient China (in modern Gansu and Qinghai). They were known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765–1122 BCE), as one of the Four Barbarians that fr ...
, a broadly defined cultural group to the west of the Shang, which the Shang regarded as tributaries. For example, Chinese philosopher
Mencius (372–289 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
Hou Ji (or Houji; ) was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing millet to humanity during the time of the Xia dynasty.. Millet was the original staple grain of northern China, prior to the introduction of wheat. His name translat ...
, who might be related to the Xirong through his mother
Jiang Yuan Jiang Yuan () is an important figure in Chinese mythology and history. She is recorded as having lived during ancient Chinese history. Jiang Yuan was the mother of Houji, who is a culture hero and revered as the god of millet.
Clan name and title
J ...
;
[Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000)]
"Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity"
''Early China''. 25 p. 21-22 additionally, the historical narrative and commentary work
Zuo Tradition (late 4th-century BCE) mentioned that the
baron of Li Rong () (in today western China), after being defeated by
Jin, married off his daughter
Li Ji () to
Duke Xian of Jin.
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".
Cultural artifacts of the Western Rong coexisted with Western Zhou bronze artifacts, displaying influences between them.
Western Zhou
King Wu maintained the old capital for ceremonial purposes but constructed a new one for his palace and administration nearby at
Hao. Although Wu's early death left a young and inexperienced heir, the
Duke of Zhou assisted his nephew
King Cheng in consolidating royal power. Wary of the Duke of Zhou's increasing power, the "Three Guards", Zhou princes stationed on the eastern plain, rose in
rebellion against his regency. Even though they garnered the support of independent-minded nobles, Shang partisans, and several
Dongyi
The Dongyi or Eastern Yi () was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula, and Ja ...
tribes, the Duke of Zhou quelled the rebellion, and further expanded the Zhou Kingdom into the east. To maintain Zhou authority over its greatly expanded territory and prevent other revolts, he set up the ''
fengjian'' system. 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.
Over time, this decentralized system became strained as the familial relationships between the Zhou kings and the regional dynasties thinned over the generations. Peripheral territories developed local power and prestige on par with that of the Zhou. When
King You demoted and exiled his
Jiang queen in favor of the beautiful commoner
Bao Si
Bao Si () was the concubine of the ancient Chinese sovereign King You of Zhou. She was considered one of the most beautiful Chinese women ever.
Life
Legends record that during the last years of the Xia dynasty, two dragons entered the palace of ...
, the disgraced queen's father the
Marquis of Shen joined with Zeng and the
Quanrong barbarians to sack
Hao in 771 BC. With King You dead, a conclave of nobles met at
Shen and declared the Marquis's grandson
King Ping. The capital was moved eastward to
Wangcheng,
marking the end of the "Western Zhou" (,
p ''Xī Zhōu'') and the beginning of the "Eastern Zhou" dynasty (,
p ''Dōng Zhōu'').
Eastern Zhou
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. The
Confucian chronicle of the early years of this process led to its title of the "
Spring and Autumn" period. The
partition of Jin
The Partition of Jin (), the watershed between the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, refers to the division of the State of Jin between rival families into the three states of Han, Zhao and Wei. As a result, the three states were o ...
in the mid-5th century BC initiated a second phase, the
"Warring States". In 403 BC, the Zhou court recognized
Han,
Zhao, and
Wei as fully independent states.
Duke Hui of
Wei, in 344 BC, was the first to claim the royal title of
king (Chinese: 王) for himself. Others followed, marking a turning point, as rulers did not even entertain the pretence of being vassals of the Zhou court, instead proclaiming themselves fully independent kingdoms. A series of states rose to prominence before each falling in turn, and Zhou was a minor player in most of these conflicts.
The last Zhou king is traditionally taken to be
Nan
Nan or NAN may refer to:
Places China
* Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan, China
* Nan Commandery, historical commandery in Hubei, China
Thailand
* Nan Province
** Nan, Thailand, the administrative capital of Nan Province
* Nan River
People Given name
...
, who was killed when
Qin captured the capital
Wangcheng in 256 BC. A "
King Hui" was declared, but his splinter state was fully removed by 249 BC. Qin's
unification of China concluded in 221 BC with
Qin Shihuang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
's annexation of
Qi.
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. The
Nine Schools of Thought which came to dominate the others were
Confucianism (as interpreted by
Mencius and others),
Legalism,
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
,
Mohism, the utopian communalist
Agriculturalism
Agriculturalism, also known as the School of Agrarianism, the School of Agronomists, the School of Tillers, and in Chinese as the ''Nongjia'' (), was an early agrarian Chinese philosophy that advocated peasant utopian communalism and egalitariani ...
, two strains of
Diplomatists, the sophistic
Logicians
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
,
Sun-tzu's
Militarists, and the
Naturalists.
[.Carr, Brian & al. ]
Companion Encyclopaedia of Asian Philosophy
'' p. 466. Taylor & Francis, 2012. , 9780415035354. Although only the first three of these went on to receive imperial patronage in later dynasties, doctrines from each influenced the others and Chinese society in sometimes unusual ways. The
Mohists, for instance, found little interest in their praise of meritocracy but much acceptance for their mastery of defensive siege warfare; much later, however, their arguments against nepotism were used in favor of establishing the
imperial exam
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
ination system.
Culture and society
The Zhou heartland was the
Wei River
The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization.
The source of the Wei River is close to ...
valley; this remained their primary base of power after conquering the Shang.
Mandate of Heaven and the justification of power
Zhou rulers introduced what was to prove one of East Asia's most enduring political doctrines: the concept of the "
Mandate of Heaven". They did this by asserting that their moral superiority justified taking over Shang wealth and territories, and that heaven had imposed a moral mandate on them to replace the Shang and return good governance to the people.
The Mandate of Heaven was presented as a religious compact between the Zhou people and their supreme god in heaven (literally the 'sky god'). The Zhou agreed that since worldly affairs were supposed to align with those of the heavens, the heavens conferred
legitimate power on only one person, the Zhou ruler. In return, the ruler was duty-bound to uphold heaven's principles of
harmony and
honor
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...
. Any ruler who failed in this duty, who let
instability creep into earthly affairs, or who let his people suffer, would lose the mandate. Under this system, it was the
prerogative of spiritual authority to withdraw support from any wayward ruler and to find another, more worthy one.
In this way, the Zhou sky god legitimized regime change.
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. The book of odes written during the Zhou period clearly intoned this caution.
The early Zhou kings contended that heaven favored their triumph because the last
Shang kings had been evil men whose policies brought pain to the people through waste and corruption. After the Zhou came to power, the mandate became a political tool.
One of the duties and privileges of the king was to create a royal
calendar. This official document defined times for undertaking agricultural activities and celebrating rituals. But unexpected events such as
solar eclipses
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mont ...
or natural
calamities threw the ruling house's mandate into question. Since rulers claimed that their authority came from heaven, the Zhou made great efforts to gain accurate knowledge of the stars and to perfect the
astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...
system on which they based their calendar.
Zhou
legitimacy also arose indirectly from
Shang material culture through the use of bronze ritual vessels,
statues
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
, ornaments, and
weapons.
As the Zhou emulated the Shang's large scale production of ceremonial bronzes, they developed an extensive system of bronze metalworking that required a large force of tribute labor. Many of its members were Shang, who were sometimes forcibly transported to new Zhou to produce the bronze ritual objects which were then sold and distributed across the lands, symbolizing Zhou legitimacy.
Feudalism
Western writers often describe the Zhou period as "
feudal" because the Zhou's ''
fēngjiàn'' (封建) system invites comparison with
medieval rule in Europe.
There were many similarities between the decentralized systems. When the dynasty was established, the conquered land was divided into hereditary fiefs (, ''zhūhóu'') that eventually became powerful in their own right. In matters of inheritance, the Zhou dynasty recognized only patrilineal
primogeniture as legal. According to Tao (1934: 17–31), "the Tsung-fa or descent line system has the following characteristics: patrilineal descent, patrilineal succession, patriarchate, sib-exogamy, and primogeniture"
The system, also called "extensive stratified patrilineage", was defined by the anthropologist
Kwang-chih Chang
Kwang-chih Chang (15 April, 1931 – January 3, 2001), commonly known as K. C. Chang, was a Chinese / Taiwanese-American archaeologist and sinologist. He was the John E. Hudson Professor of archaeology at Harvard University, Vice-President of the ...
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 farther removed, the lesser the political authority". Ebrey defines the descent-line system as follows: "A great line (ta-tsung) is the line of eldest sons continuing indefinitely from a founding ancestor. A lesser line is the line of younger sons going back no more than five generations. Great lines and lesser lines continually spin off new lesser lines, founded by younger sons".
K.E. 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. In discussions that demarcate between trunk and collateral lines, the former is called a zong and the latter a zu, whereas the whole lineage is dubbed the shi.
..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).
..According to the Zou commentary, the
son of heaven divided land among his feudal lords, his feudal lords divided the land among their dependent families and so forth down the pecking order to the officers who had their dependent kin and the commoners who "each had his apportioned relations and all had their graded precedence""
This type of unilineal descent-group later became the model of the Korean family through the influence of
Neo-Confucianism, as
Zhu Xi and others advocated its re-establishment in China.
Fēngjiàn system and bureaucracy
There were
five peerage ranks below the royal ranks, in descending order with common English translations: ''gōng'' 公 "duke", ''hóu'' 侯 "marquis", ''bó'' 伯 "count", ''zǐ'' 子 "viscount", and ''nán'' 男 "baron". At times, a vigorous duke would take power from his nobles and centralize the state. Centralization became more necessary as the states began to war among themselves and decentralization encouraged more war. If a duke took power from his nobles, the state would have to be administered bureaucratically by appointed officials.
Despite these similarities, there are a number of important differences from medieval Europe. One obvious difference is that the Zhou ruled from walled cities rather than castles. Another was China's distinct class system, which lacked an organized clergy but saw Shang-descent yeomen become masters of ritual and ceremony, as well as astronomy, state affairs and ancient canons, known as ''ru'' (儒). When a dukedom was centralized, these people would find employment as government officials or officers. These hereditary classes were similar to Western knights in status and breeding, but unlike the European equivalent, they were expected to be something of a scholar instead of a warrior. Being appointed, they could move from one state to another. Some would travel from state to state peddling schemes of administrative or military reform. Those who could not find employment would often end up teaching young men who aspired to official status. The most famous of these was
Confucius, who taught a system of mutual duty between superiors and inferiors. In contrast, the
Legalists had no time for Confucian virtue and advocated a system of strict laws and harsh punishments. The wars of the Warring States were finally ended by the most legalist state of all, Qin. 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.
Agriculture
Agriculture in the Zhou dynasty was very intensive and, in many cases, directed by the government. All farming lands were owned by nobles, who then gave their land to their
serfs, a situation similar to European
feudalism. For example, a piece of land was divided into nine squares in the
well-field system
The well-field system () was a Chinese land redistribution method existing between the ninth century BCE (late Western Zhou dynasty) to around the end of the Warring States period. Its name comes from Chinese character 井 (''jǐng''), which ...
, with the grain from the middle square taken by the government and that of surrounding squares kept by individual farmers. This way, the government was able to store surplus food and distribute it in times of famine or bad harvest. Some important manufacturing sectors during this period included bronze smelting, which was integral to making weapons and farming tools. Again, these industries were dominated by the nobility who directed the production of such materials
China's first projects of
hydraulic engineering were initiated during the Zhou dynasty, ultimately as a means to aid agricultural
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
. The
chancellor of
Wei,
Sunshu Ao, who served
King Zhuang of Chu
King Zhuang of Chu (, reigned 613-591 BC) was a monarch of the Zhou dynasty State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period in ancient China. His personal name was Xiong Lü (), his ancestral name was Mi (), and his posthumous title was King Zhua ...
, dammed a river to create an enormous irrigation
reservoir in modern-day northern
Anhui province. For this, Sunshu is credited as China's first hydraulic engineer. The later Wei statesman
Ximen Bao
Ximen Bao was a Chinese hydraulic engineer, philosopher, and politician. He was a government minister and court advisor to Marquis Wen of Wei (reigned 445–396 BC) during the Warring States period of ancient China. He was known as an early ratio ...
, who served
Marquis Wen of Wei (445–396 BC), was the first hydraulic engineer of China to have created a large irrigation canal system. As the main focus of his grandiose project, his canal work eventually diverted the waters of the entire
Zhang River to a spot further up the
Yellow River.
Military
The early Western Zhou supported a strong army, split into two major units: "the Six Armies of the west" and "the Eight Armies of Chengzhou". The armies campaigned in the northern
Loess Plateau
The Chinese Loess Plateau, or simply the Loess Plateau, is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounde ...
, modern
Ningxia
Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1 ...
and the
Yellow River floodplain. The military prowess of Zhou peaked during the 19th year of
King Zhao's reign, when the six armies were wiped out along with King Zhao on a campaign around the
Han River. Early Zhou kings were true commanders-in-chief. They were in constant wars with barbarians on behalf of the fiefs called ''guo'', which at that time meant "statelet" or "principality".
King Zhao was famous for repeated campaigns in the
Yangtze areas and died in his last action. Later kings' campaigns were less effective.
King Li led 14 armies against
barbarians in the south, but failed to achieve any victory.
King Xuan fought the
Quanrong nomads in vain.
King You was killed by the Quanrong when Haojing was sacked. Although
chariots had been introduced to China during the Shang dynasty from Central Asia, the Zhou period saw the first major use of chariots in battle. Recent archaeological finds demonstrate similarities between
horse burial
Horse burial is the practice of burying a horse as part of the ritual of human burial, and is found among many Indo-European speaking peoples and others, including Chinese and Turkic peoples. The act indicates the high value placed on horses in ...
s of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and Indo-European peoples in the west.
Other possible cultural influences resulting from Indo-European contact in this period may include fighting styles, head-and-hooves burials, art motifs and myths.
The Zhou army also included "Barbarian" troops such as the Di people. King Hui of Zhou married a princess of the Red Di as a sign of appreciation for the importance of the Di troops. King Xiang of Zhou also married a Di princess after receiving Di military support.
Philosophy
During the Zhou dynasty, the origins of native
Chinese philosophy developed, its initial stages of development beginning in the 6th century BC. The greatest Chinese philosophers, those who made the greatest impact on later generations of Chinese, were
Confucius, founder of
Confucianism, and
Laozi, founder of
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
. Other philosophers, theorists, and schools of thought in this era were
Mozi, founder of
Mohism;
Mencius, a famous Confucian who expanded upon Confucius' legacy;
Shang Yang and
Han Fei
Han Fei (233), also known as Han Feizi or Han Fei Zi, was a Chinese philosopher or statesman of the "Legalist" (Fajia) school during the Warring States period, and a prince of the state of Han.
Han Fei is often considered to be the greatest r ...
, responsible for the development of ancient Chinese
Legalism (the core philosophy of the
Qin dynasty); and
Xun Zi
Xun Kuang (; BCE), better known as Xunzi (; ), was a Chinese philosopher of Confucianism who lived during the late Warring States period. After his predecessors Confucius and Mencius, Xunzi is often ranked as the third great Confucian philosop ...
, who was arguably the center of ancient Chinese intellectual life during his time, even more so than iconic intellectual figures such as Mencius.
Li
Established during the Western period, the ''Li'' () 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.
The system was canonized in the ''
Book of Rites'', ''
Zhouli
The ''Rites of Zhou'' (), originally known as "Officers of Zhou" () is a work on bureaucracy and organizational theory. It was renamed by Liu Xin to differentiate it from a chapter in the ''Book of History'' by the same name. To replace a lost ...
'', and ''
Yili'' compendiums of the
Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), thus becoming the heart of the Chinese imperial ideology. While the system was initially a respected body of concrete regulations, the fragmentation of the Western Zhou period led the ritual to drift towards moralization and formalization in regard to:
* The five orders of
Chinese nobility
The nobility of China was an important feature of the traditional social structure of Ancient China and Imperial China.
While the concepts of hereditary sovereign and peerage titles and noble families were featured as early as the semi-mythic ...
.
* Ancestral temples (size, legitimate number of pavilions)
* Ceremonial regulations (number of
ritual vessels, musical instruments, people in the dancing troupe)
Kings
The rulers of the Zhou dynasty were titled ''Wáng'' (), which is normally translated into English as "king" and was also the
Shang term for their rulers.
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.
NB: Dates in Chinese history before the first year of the
Gonghe Regency in 841 BC are contentious and vary by source. Those below are those published by
Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and Edward L. Shaughnessy's ''The Absolute Chronology of the Western Zhou Dynasty''.
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. Ji Zhao, a son of King Nan, led a resistance against Qin for five years. The dukedom fell in 249 BC. The remaining Ji family ruled
Yan
Yan may refer to:
Chinese states
* Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty
* Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC
* Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed indepe ...
and
Wei until 209 BC.
Astrology
In traditional Chinese astrology, Zhou is represented by two stars,
Eta Capricorni () and
21 Capricorni
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
(), in
"Twelve States" asterism. Zhou is also represented by the star
Beta Serpentis
Beta Serpentis, Latinized from β Serpentis, is a binary star system in the constellation Serpens, in its head (Serpens Caput). It is visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude of +3.65. Based upon an annual par ...
in asterism "Right Wall",
Heavenly Market enclosure
The Heavenly Market Enclosure (天市垣, ''Tian Shi Yuan''), is one of the ''San Yuan'' or Three enclosures. Stars and constellations of this group are visible during late summer and early autumn in the Northern Hemisphere (late winter and early ...
(see
Chinese constellations).
[ ]
See also
*
Family tree of the Zhou dynasty
This is a family tree of Chinese monarchs covering the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Five Emperors up through the end of the Spring and Autumn period.
Five Emperors
The legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Five Emper ...
*
Four occupations
*
Historical capitals of China
*
Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
*
Women in ancient and imperial China
*
Ritual and music system
*
Patriarchal system (Western Zhou)
Notes
References
Citations
Works cited
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Further reading
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External links
Chinese Text Project Rulers of the Zhou period – with links to their occurrences in pre-Qin and Han texts.
{{Authority control
256 BC
3rd-century BC disestablishments in China
11th-century BC establishments in China
Bronze Age in China
Dynasties in Chinese history
Former countries in Chinese history
Former monarchies of East Asia
States and territories disestablished in the 3rd century BC
States and territories established in the 11th century BC