Boundaries of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050 - 771 BC) in China
The 'Zhou Dynasty' (;
1122 BC to
256 BC [1] preceded by the
Shang Dynasty and followed by the
Qin Dynasty in
China. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other in
Chinese history--though the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty only lasted during the Western Zhou. During the Zhou, the
use of iron was introduced to China
[2], while this period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese
bronze-ware making. The dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved from the ancient stage as seen in early Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, to the beginnings of the modern stage, in the form of the archaic clerical script of the late
Warring States period.
During the Zhou Dynasty, the origins of matured
Chinese philosophy developed, its initial stages beginning in the
6th century BC. The greatest Chinese philosophers, those who made the greatest impact on later generations of Chinese, were
Kong Fuzi (Latin: Confucius), founder of
Confucianism, and
Laozi, founder of
Daoism. Other philosophers, theorists, and schools of thought in this era were
Mozi (Latin: Micius), founder of
Mohism,
Mengzi (Latin: Mencius), a famous Confucian who expanded upon Kong Fuzi's legacy, and
Shang Yang and
Han Feizi, responsible for the development of ancient Chinese
Legalism (the core philosophy of the
Qin Dynasty). In an age of intellectual sophistication, Chinese philosophy of this period has been often compared to its contemporary in
ancient Greece.
Mandate of Heaven
A Western Zhou bronze gui vessel, c. 1000 BC
In the Chinese historical tradition, the Zhou defeated the Shang and oriented the Shang system of
ancestor worship toward a universalized worship away from the worship of
Di and to that of
Tian or "heaven". They legitimized their rule by invoking the
Mandate of Heaven, the notion that the ruler (the "
Son of Heaven") governed by divine right but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate. The doctrine explained and justified the demise of the
Xia and Shang Dynasties and at the same time supported the legitimacy of present and future rulers. The Zhou dynasty was founded by the
Ji family and had its capital at Hào (鎬, near the present-day city of
Xi'an in the
Wei River valley). Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, established a large imperial territory wherein states as far as
Shandong acknowledged Zhou rulership and took part in elite culture. The spread of Zhou bronzes, though, was concurrent with the continued use of Shang style pottery in the distant regions and these states were the first to recede during the late Western Zhou.
Zhou military
The early Western Zhou supported a strong military 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, modern
Ningxia and the
Huanghe 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, Zhou power declined ever since. The Zhou period saw the introduction of the use of massed
chariots in battle, a technology imported from Central Asia.
[3]
==
Fengjian (
Feudalism)==
In the West, the Zhou period is often described as feudal because the Zhou's early rule invites comparison with
medieval rule in Europe. However, historians debate whether or not this description is valid; the more appropriate term for the Zhou Dynasty's political arrangement would be from the Chinese language itself: the ''Fēngjiàn'' (封建) system. The Zhou amalgam of city-states became progressively centralized and established increasingly impersonal political and economic institutions. These developments, which probably occurred in the later Zhou period, were manifested in greater central control over local governments and a more routinized agrarian taxation. Zhou officials were not paid a salary but instead were given semi-regular gifts by the King, which often included land in the Wei River valley. Imperial stability was ensured through marriages between the Zhou court and local lords as well as the installment of Zhou lords into command over distant regions.
Western and Eastern Zhou
Initially the Ji family was able to control the country firmly. In
771 BC, after
King You had replaced his queen with a concubine
Baosi, the capital was sacked by the joint force of the queen's father, who was the powerful
Marquess of
Shen, and a nomadic tribe, the
Quanrong. The queen's son
Ji Yijiu was proclaimed the new king by the nobles from the states of
Zheng,
Lü,
Qin and the Marquess of Shen. The capital was moved eastward in
722 BC to
Luoyang in present-day
Henan Province.
Because of this shift, historians divide the Zhou era into the 'Western Zhou' (西周,
pinyin Xī Zhōu), lasting up until
771 BC, and the 'Eastern Zhou' (
Traditional Chinese: 東周,
Simplified Chinese: 东周,
pinyin: Dōng Zhōu) from
770 up to
256 BC. The beginning year of the Western Zhou has been disputed -
1122 BC,
1027 BC and other years within the hundred years from late
12th century BC to late
11th century BC have been proposed. Chinese historians take
841 BC as the first year of consecutive annual dating of the history of China, based on the ''
Records of the Grand Historian'' by
Sima Qian. The Eastern Zhou corresponds roughly to two subperiods. The first, from
722 to
481 BC, is called the
Spring and Autumn Period, after a famous historical chronicle of the time; the second is known as the
Warring States Period (480 to 221 BC), after another famous chronicle. The Warring States Period extends slightly past the 256 BC end date of the Eastern Zhou; this discrepancy is due to the fact that the last Zhou king's reign ended in 256, 35 years before the beginning of the
Qin dynasty which ended the Warring States period.
Decline
With the royal line broken, the power of the Zhou court gradually diminished, and the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated. From Ping Wang onwards, the Zhou kings ruled in name only, with true power lying in the hands of powerful nobles. Towards the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the nobles did not even bother to acknowledge the Ji family symbolically, rebelled and declared themselves to be kings. The dynasty had disappeared some years prior to
Qin Shi Huang's unification of China in 223 BC.
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 shape of the character for "water well," jing (井), 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 founded during the Zhou Dynasty, ultimately for means to aid agricultrual
irrigation. The
Prime Minister of
Wei,
Sunshu Ao, who served
King Zhuang of Chu (楚莊王) (died
591 BC) 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, who served
Marquis Wen of Wei (文侯) (
445 BC-
396 BC), is 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
Huang He River.
==Gallery from the
Shanghai Museum==
Zhou dynasty kings
See also
★
Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project
Footnotes
1. [1]
2. [2]
3. Shaughnessy, Edward L. Historical Perspectives on The Introduction of The Chariot Into China. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jun., 1988), pp. 189-237
References
★ Lee, Yuan-Yuan and Shen, Sinyan. (1999). ''Chinese Musical Instruments (Chinese Music Monograph Series)''. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. ISBN 1-880464039
★ Shen, Sinyan (1987), Acoustics of Ancient Chinese Bells, ''Scientific American'', 256, 94.
★ Sun, Yan. 2006. "Cultural and Political Control in North China: Style and Use of the Bronzes of Yan at Liulihe during the Early Western Zhou." In: ''Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World''. Edited by Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu. Pages 215-237. ISBN 9780824828844; ISBN 0824828844.
★ Feng, Li. 2006. Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045-771 BC
External links
★
History of the Zhou Dynasty by Leon Poon
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