Historians believe the Old Master was a fictional sage invented by Warring States Period philosophers who compiled the book attributed to him. [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". 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 system on which they based their calendar. 256 BCE. 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. Rather than give those posts to kinsmen, kings appointed men from the lower ranks of the nobility or commoners based on their loyalty and merit. 4.7.1: The Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 771 BCE) 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. He assumed the throne upon his fathers death and, in 1046, led three-hundred chariots and 45,000 foot soldiers equipped with bronze armor and pole-mounted dagger-axes to a location just outside the Shang capital, where he met with and decisively defeated the last Shang king and his army. The wars of the Warring States were finally ended by the most legalist state of all, Qin. Second, they issued proclamations explaining to conquered peoples why they should accept Zhou rule. Zhou dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Chou, dynasty that ruled ancient China for some eight centuries, establishing the distinctive political and cultural characteristics that were to be identified with China for the next two millennia. By 475 BCE, in the wake of 540 wars fought over the course of two centuries, only fifteen states remained (see Map \(\PageIndex{2}\)). 5. Legal. The emperor and administrator in Han Dynasty studied why Qin Dynasty was so short-lived. The first was Duke Huan of Qi [who-an of chee]. In this capacity, Duke Huan had the authority to resolve disputes between nobles on behalf of the king. The two most important early books belonging to this tradition are: the Laozi (Old Master) and Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang). Sources. 841 BCE - 828 BCE. According to the Duke of Zhou, Heaven had decreed that Shang kings must fall and Zhou rulers should replace them. Peripheral territories developed local power and prestige on par with that of the Zhou. Thus, the dynasty had lost this sanction. The first qualification for a ruler or one who serves is moral rectitude. But they fought even more fiercely. The king and his regent did so by implementing three policies. He saw the practice of morality in the family as the root. 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. Attending lords cemented their agreements by swearing oaths and drinking the blood of sacrificed animals. The noble person is concerned with rightness, the small person is concerned with profit. (4.16) Confucius redefined the meaning of nobility. In about 771 b.c., the enemies attacked the Zhou capital of Hao. First, they established a secondary capital farther east at Luoyang [low-yawng], closer to the North China Plain. NB: Dates in Chinese history before the first year of the Gonghe Regency in 841 BC are contentious and vary by source. Fngjin ( Chinese: ; lit. [46] At times, a vigorous duke would take power from his nobles and centralize the state. )%2F04%253A_China_and_East_Asia_to_the_Ming_Dynasty%2F4.07%253A_The_Long_Zhou_Dynasty_(1046-_256_BCE), \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}}}\) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\), 4.6: China from Neolithic Village Settlements to the Shang Kingdom, 4.8: The Qin Dynasty and the Transition from Ancient to Imperial China, University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials, 4.7.1: The Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 771 BCE), 4.7.2: The Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 256 BCE) and the Warring States Period (c. 475 221 BCE), 4.7.3: Philosophy in a Time of Turmoil: Confucianism and Daoism, 4.7.3.2: Philosophical and Institutional Daoism, http://brandonqindynasty.weebly.com/9/8580061.jpeg, status page at https://status.libretexts.org. Over time, this decentralized system became strained as the familial relationships between the Zhou kings and the regional dynasties thinned over the generations. 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. 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). 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. We return to that topic after reviewing the ideas put forward by philosophers in the context of these centuries of turmoil. Consequently, society will become more orderly. Like other young men of similar background, he had access to education and could aspire to serve in some capacity in a feudal state, perhaps at the lords court, or as an official or soldier. During the Western Zhou (1046 771 BCE), Zhou kings dispatched kinsmen to territories he granted to them (see Map \(\PageIndex{1}\)). [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]. Now, many generations later, his state was a formidable power on the east coast. The 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. 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. 1934, Ancestral Memory in Early China Written By K. E. Brashier, The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology Written By Martina Deuchler, Silk painting depicting a man riding a dragon, "Considering Chengzhou ('Completion of Zhou') and Wangcheng ('City of the King')", "Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction, version 1.1 (20 September 2014)", "An ABC Exercise in Old Sinitic Lexical Statistics", "Chapter 14 - The Chinese and Their Neighbors in Prehistoric and Early Historic Times", "Ji and Jiang : The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity", Companion Encyclopaedia of Asian Philosophy, https://books.google.com/books?id=aJAMLt5NYAQC&pg=PA71, https://books.google.com/books?id=NQeeYOyUx64C&pg=PA129, "AEEA Astronomy Education Network ()", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zhou_dynasty&oldid=1138647437, 3rd-century BC disestablishments in China, States and territories disestablished in the 3rd century BC, States and territories established in the 11th century BC, Articles with Chinese-language sources (zh), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Articles containing traditional Chinese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Ancestral temples (size, legitimate number of pavilions), "Empire" as a description of foreign policy, This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 20:30. Even he did not dare to take the ultimate move released by the Wu Ji patriarch head-on, let alone Gu Mingzhou. After a series of wars among these powerful states, King Zhao of Qin defeated King Nan of Zhou and conquered West Zhou in 256 BCE; his grandson, King . One of the Zhou ruling houses devised a plan to conquer the Shang, and a decisive battle was fought, probably in the mid-11th century bce. Those who belonged to it are Confuciansindividuals distinguished by their commitment to the ideas articulated by Confucius, classical learning, and the value they place on character and conduct as the key to a good society and political order. This move marked the beginning of the Eastern Zhou (770 256 BCE). After he died, they passed on his teachings, and a school of thought emerged from his teachings known as Confucianism. According to Nicholas Bodman, the Zhou appear to have spoken a language not basically different in vocabulary and syntax from that of the Shang;[16] a recent study by David McCraw, using lexical statistics, reached the same conclusion. 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. During the Zhou dynasty, China underwent quite dramatic changes. King Wu then returned to his capital in the Wei River Valley, where he passed away in 1043 BCE. There was also a great philosophical flowering: the schools of Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism developed in that period. Fengjian. Centralization became more necessary as the states began to war among themselves and decentralization encouraged more war. These nobles were allowed to rule their own lands hereditarily, so long as they observed certain obligations to their king. He believed that, during the early Zhou, the nobility was honorable, observed moral codes, and upheld social standards. 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". While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The decline of Zhou Dynasty was mainly caused by the corruption of the government. 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.[38].