Category:Zhou period

The Zhou period (c. 1046–256 BCE) represents the longest dynasty in Chinese history, spanning 789 years , and stands as one of the most culturally significant eras in ancient China. The dynasty is divided into two major periods: Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (771–256 BCE) , with the Eastern Zhou further subdivided into the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States period (475–221 BCE).

The Zhou Dynasty emerged from a native Chinese bronze age society, with the wandering Zhou people having moved into Shang territory and adopted Shang-style agriculture during the preceding Shang Dynasty . King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye around 1046 BCE , establishing a new political order that would profoundly shape Chinese civilization.

The founders, King Wen and his son King Wu, established their authority under the revolutionary concept of the Mandate of Heaven, which held that rulers gained their authority from divine sanction and could only maintain it through just and fair rule . This concept taught that when the Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty, it was because the Shang had become tyrants and the gods allowed them to fall . This principle set a major precedent for Chinese political philosophy, establishing that unjust rulers could legitimately be overthrown.

During its first years, the Zhou dynasty mirrored the Shang in ruling as a centralized empire, with its capital located in western China near present-day Xi'an . Since their territory was vast—larger than the Shang—the early Zhou kings developed a form of feudalism with regions ruled by appointed relatives and other noblemen . The early Western Kings did not attempt to exert direct control over the entire territory they had conquered, instead securing their position by selecting loyal supporters and relatives to rule walled towns and the surrounding territories .

The rulers of the Western Zhou managed to claim legitimate authority, and this period is remembered in Chinese history as one of prosperity, growth, and relative peace . During the Western Zhou Dynasty, people honored family relationships and stressed social status distinctions, with social interaction at the upper levels governed by complex rules of social etiquette and personal conduct .

The arts of the early Zhou were essentially a continuation of those of the Shang dynasty, especially in bronze casting and jade working . The Zhou people used Shang bronze designs as a foundation for their own decorative bronzes, but they also introduced new motifs and shapes . Zhou ritual bronzes have been collected since the Song dynasty, and hundreds of hoards of bronzes have been found in Shaanxi, dating from the fall of the western capital in 771 BC .

However, the decentralized rule of the Western Zhou carried within it the danger that regional lords would become so powerful they would no longer respond to the king's commands, and as generations passed and ties of loyalty and kinship grew more distant, this indeed happened . In 771 BC, Quanrong pastoralists sacked the Zhou capital at Haojing and killed King You of Zhou , bringing the Western Zhou period to a violent end.

In 771 BCE, the capital was overrun by invaders and the Zhou rulers were forced to relocate to the eastern city of Luoyang, thus starting the Eastern Zhou period . Even as Zhou suzerainty became increasingly ceremonial during the Eastern Zhou period, the political system created by the Zhou royal house survived in some form for several additional centuries .

The Eastern Zhou period was even less unified than the Western Zhou, and regionalism began to tear the state apart . Eastern Zhou kings no longer exercised much political or military authority over the states they had once ruled, with the political structure resembling more of a confederation with the Zhou kings remaining nominal overlords .

During the Spring and Autumn period, China consisted of many small squabbling states . During this period the lords of the states became somewhat independent and didn't really follow the king—they did what they wanted and often fought amongst each other . The Spring and Autumn Period still retained some of the courtesy and decorum of the days of Western Zhou, with chivalry in battle still observed and all states using the same tactics .

By the end of this period many of the lords had conquered each other to where there were only seven main states . During the 7th and 6th centuries BC, brief periods of stability were achieved through alliances among states, under the domination of the strongest member .

During the Warring States period, the small states consolidated into several larger units, which struggled with one another for mastery . This period began around 475 BC and lasted up until the end of the Zhou dynasty in 221 BC, with seven major states fighting each other until only one was left .

This repetition of seemingly endless, and completely futile, warfare became simply the way of life for the people of China during the Warring States Period . Finally, one of those small kingdoms, Qin (from which derives modern China's name), succeeded in conquering the rest of the states and establishing the Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE) .

During the Zhou dynasty, China underwent dramatic changes: iron, ox-drawn plows, crossbows, and horseback riding were all introduced . Large-scale irrigation and water-control projects were instituted for the first time, greatly increasing the crop yield of the North China Plain . China's first projects of hydraulic engineering were initiated during the Zhou dynasty, ultimately as a means to aid agricultural irrigation .

The communication system was greatly improved through the construction of new roads and canals, trade increased, towns grew up, coinage was developed, and chopsticks came into use . The Chinese writing system was created out of its primitive beginnings in the Shang period . One important technological advance was the invention of cast iron, which enabled strong and durable iron tools and weapons to be manufactured .

During the Eastern Zhou period, social and economic achievement was notable, with the implementation of iron-tipped, ox-drawn plows and improved irrigation techniques marking great advances in agriculture . Important innovations included crop rotation which allowed more efficient use of the land and the addition of soybeans as a major crop .

There was a great philosophical flowering during the Zhou: the schools of Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism developed in that period, and literature flourished with Confucius and other great Chinese philosophers . Many of China's great thinkers lived during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, with new ideas of all kinds emerging .

Great thinkers emerged and traveled from palace to palace, commissioned by local lords who wanted to prove their own intellectual sophistication . These thinkers were inspired by the stories of the more peaceful early Western Zhou period, and collectively sought to find ways to return China to an era of peace and stability . Confucius, Mencius, Li Si, and Lao Tzu were all products of the Eastern Zhou, with the Confucian ethics, legalist pragmatism, and Taoist cosmology that emerged in this era defining the moral and political ideologies of Chinese philosophy for generations .

The Chinese philosopher Confucius lived from 551 to 479 BC, and many of his sayings and teachings impacted the culture and government throughout the rest of the history of Ancient China . Taoism was introduced by another famous philosopher Lao Tzu, who introduced the concept of the yin and the yang .

The visual arts of the Zhou dynasty were diverse, with the arts of the early Western Zhou essentially a continuation of those of the Shang dynasty, especially in works in bronze . During the Eastern Zhou period, unique local traditions became apparent, with decorations beginning to include pictorial subjects such as hunting scenes and chariots and horsemen .

Over time, the Zhou kings' authority decreased as individual states grew more independent, wealthy, and powerful, which was reflected in the visual arts . Bronze objects were no longer used solely for state and religious rituals, as local rulers could commission and purchase bronzes to display their status and wealth . Zhou bronze inscriptions lengthened and often recorded some honor or achievement of the living aristocrat, reflecting the elite's desire to document their status and prestige .

Lacquerware including gold and silver inlay became finely developed, and bronzework carried on from the great legacy of the Shang. Jade ornaments and objects were used lavishly for funerary and ritual purposes, and ornamental carvings reflected superb craftsmanship . Pottery continued Shang traditions and expanded greatly in variety of shapes and finishes during the Warring States period .

The Zhou Dynasty made significant cultural contributions to agriculture, education, military organization, Chinese literature, music, philosophical schools of thought, and social stratification as well as political and religious innovations . The Zhou's elevation of ancestor worship encouraged the development of religious thought and their vision of the Mandate of Heaven would continue to inform Chinese dynasties going forward for thousands of years .

The Zhou developed the Shang script Jiaguwen into the Dashuan, Xiaozhuan, and Lishu scripts which would lend themselves to the development of still others . In the Western Zhou period, they established a decentralized, but cohesive, state which honored and inspired the people of all social classes, and in the Eastern Zhou period, even amidst the chaos of constant warfare, they continued to develop art, music, literature, and philosophy of the highest quality .

Later generations of Chinese have studied the Zhou dynasty for information on the origin of their civilization . The concepts, technologies, and cultural achievements developed during the Zhou period would continue to shape Chinese civilization for millennia to come.