Zhou Dynasty

I

Introduction

Zhou Dynasty, 1045?-256 bc, also known as Chou, Chinese dynasty that paved the way for the first unification of China in 221 bc. Although the Zhou dynasty was founded in about 1027 BC, the Zhou conquest of the Shang dynasty in about 1045 BC established the Zhou as the supreme political power in China. Most historians date the beginning of the Zhou dynasty to this event, and Zhou historical records show that the Zhou themselves considered this victory to be the beginning of their dynastic reign.

The Zhou dynasty is subdivided into two periods: the Western and Eastern Zhou. The Western Zhou controlled China's Central Plain area, consisting mainly of the middle and lower reaches of the Huang He (Yellow River) drainage. The authority of the Western Zhou court ended in 771 bc, but the Eastern Zhou court nominally reigned until 256 bc. During this period, the area of China expanded to include the drainage of the Yangtze River in the south as well as the farmland along the future site of the Great Wall in the north.

During the Zhou dynasty, China evolved from a feudal state with power divided among vassals to one with a strong centralized government. Paralleling this change, a more homogeneous Chinese civilization developed as contact between regions increased and Confucianism spread throughout China.

II

Political History

A

The Western Zhou

The Zhou people were a coalition of several groups that had existed at the end of the Shang dynasty (1570?-1045? bc). Their history indicates that the ancestors of the Zhou may have lived among pastoral peoples in the north before relocating into the upper region of the Wei River in what is now the province of Shaanxi (Shensi), where they developed agricultural skills. In their new home, the Zhou people formed an alliance with the neighboring state of Jiang (Chiang), which controlled areas of what are now the provinces of Gansu (Kansu) and Shaanxi.

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This union made the Zhou people a formidable power on the western border of the Shang kingdom, which controlled China's entire Central Plain, and the Zhou quickly became a serious threat to the Shang. At the same time, the Shang lacked strong leadership and were preoccupied with costly military campaigns against nomadic tribes along their northern borders.

In about 1027 BC the Zhou dynasty was founded by King Wen, who increased the Zhou's influence by incorporating regions west and northwest of the Shang kingdom, thereby flanking it on two fronts. King Wen never managed to exploit this advantage, but after his death his son and successor, King Wu, defeated the Shang in a sudden attack at the Battle of Muye in about 1045 BC. According to Zhou accounts of the battle, the last Shang king, Zhouxin (Di Xin), committed suicide after suffering this defeat. The Zhou claimed the eastern land under the Tian Ming (Mandate of Heaven), the belief that the Zhou ruler was heaven's representative on earth. The Zhou also believed that the gods had allowed them to defeat the morally inferior Shang. King Wu gave three of his brothers estates in the former territory of the Shang to guard the eastern areas of the empire, where a Shang prince still governed the remnant of the Shang domain and where numerous states remained independent. Despite the Zhou's new control, the eastern states did not yield easily. Three years after the victory over the Shang, King Wu died and left the unfinished task of consolidation to his brother, the Duke of Zhou, who ruled as regent. The Duke of Zhou fought with the dukes of eastern states who joined with the remnants of the Shang and other, older, eastern powers to oppose his regency. The Zhou did not fully conquer the east for another five years.

To consolidate the Zhou's control in the east, several more Zhou kinsmen were dispatched to strategic locations. They formed a network of vassal states, small principalities loyal to the Zhou, which spread over the Central Plain. An eastern capital, Chengzhou (Ch'eng-chou, near what is now Luoyang), was built in the heartland of the former Shang area, as a base to support the eastern states. During the 11th and 10th centuries bc, the royal court continued to send Zhou princes to establish vassal states in the east. Also in the 10th century bc the Zhou expanded southward. While leading a southern campaign, King Zhao (Chao) drowned crossing the Han River. Despite this setback, the Zhou managed to extend their territory into the Yangtze River valley.

After the 10th century bc, the Zhou gradually declined. Having been far removed from the central government for generations, the loyalty of the eastern vassal states began to falter, while the Zhou homeland itself began to feel crowded as it was continually subdivided into new vassal states. In the middle of the 9th century bc, the tyrannical King Li was exiled by his noblemen, who took control of the kingdom in 841 bc. This collective leadership lasted 14 years, until King Li's crown prince was enthroned as King Xuan (Hsüan). Xuan reigned from 827 to 782 bc and temporarily restored the stability of the kingdom. However, the Zhou's northern and western borders were threatened by nomadic tribes from the north who were trying to move into the more habitable southern regions to escape climatic changes in inner Asia. These pressures eventually became too much to bear, and in the reign of King Yu (781-771 bc), the Western Zhou collapsed, giving up its territory to the northern tribes.

B

The Eastern Zhou

After the fall of the Western Zhou, an imperial prince fled from the old Zhou homeland to establish a new court at the eastern capital of Chengzhou. He became King Bing (Ping), who reigned from 770 to 720 bc and founded what came to be called the Eastern Zhou, which, despite its relative longevity, had little of the power of the Western Zhou. In name, the king of Zhou still reigned over all of Zhou China. However, forced to rely upon the support of the eastern dukes, the royal court had little actual authority. The Eastern Zhou is conventionally subdivided into two periods: the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn) period (722-481 bc), and the Zhanguo (Warring States) period (403-221 bc).

During the early decades of the Spring and Autumn period, the Zhou vassal states fought for domination over the empire. The major powers were Zheng (Cheng), Song (Sung), and Lu within the domain of the Eastern Zhou. Zheng became powerful enough to allow the duke of Zheng to challenge the Zhou and to defeat the royal army in battle. The Zheng domination ended quickly, however, and Qi (Ch'i), a Zhou vassal state located in what is now the province of Shandong (Shantung), became a major power. Duke Huan of Qi, who reigned from 685 to 643 bc, assumed control of the empire at a time when the Zhou were facing threats from northern nomadic tribes. Duke Huan launched military campaigns that stopped incursions by northern tribes, and he halted the northward expansion of the new southern state of Chu (Ch'u) in the Yangtze River valley. To provide collective security for the Zhou states, Duke Huan presided over several interstate conferences that eventually organized a new system of government. Called the ba, or hegemony, this government substituted for the now almost nonexistent royal authority by giving the most powerful states the right to maintain order in the name of the Zhou kings.

After Qi, the state of Jin in what is now Shanxi (Shansi) province became the ba overlord. Under the leadership of Duke Wen, who reigned from 636 to 628 bc, and Duke Xiang (Hsiang), who reigned from 627 to 621 bc, the Jin rule was so well organized that they were able to maintain their political domination in the Zhou world until the end of the Spring and Autumn period. At the same time, the state of Chu had gained so much strength in the south that China became dominated by competition between the northern states led by Jin and the southern states led by Chu, while other states such as Qi in the east and Qin (Ch’in) in the west also strove to gain status. Major powers allied themselves with bordering states to form blocs. Weaker states were annexed by their stronger neighbors, who constantly needed to gain land and resources to remain competitive. At the beginning of the Eastern Zhou, there were almost 150 Zhou vassal states and non-Zhou entities; by the end of the Spring and Autumn period, only about 12 remained.

As states fell or were conquered, the surviving states reorganized. Each of the remaining vassal states underwent a secondary feudalization as their rulers repeated the Zhou practice of granting estates to their ministers as subvassals in their own territories. As a result, the ministers became powerful enough to usurp the dukes' position, so that by the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the ducal states of Qi, Lu, and Song had all changed hands, while the state of Jin was divided by its three most powerful ministers to form three new states: Han, Zhao (Chao), and Wei.

In the Warring States period, the main powers were Qi, Chu, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin, and the northern state of Yen. Military strength was important to these states, which often fought prolonged battles involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Their strength was derived from the ability to mobilize both men and the material resources needed to supply them. Shrewd strategy was also crucial.

These states continued the political reform that had started with the hegemony system, gradually adopting a more centralized form of government, with power concentrated solely in the hands of the ruler. In addition, the method of choosing administrators evolved from a feudal system of advancement based solely on social position to the practice of hiring experts to fill administrative posts regardless of their backgrounds. Expertise became more important than birth for anyone wishing to enter government service.

The seven powers maneuvered desperately to gain any possible advantage. In the first part of the Warring States period, Wei and Qi gained enough of an advantage that Wei declared itself independent from Zhou in 369 bc and Qi did so in 356 bc, openly denying the nominal sovereignty of the Zhou for the first time. Shortly thereafter, other states followed suit.

In the late Warring States period, the states of Chao, Yen, Qin, and Chu, which could expand outward into large areas of land along their borders, grew stronger than the states in the crowded Central Plain, and they became major powers. As these states expanded, China gradually began to take on the shape of China proper during the later Qin (221-206 bc) and Han (206 bc-ad 220) dynasties. The Qin emerged as the most aggressive state, eventually maneuvering to defeat all the others and unify China in 221 bc.

III

Economy During the Zhou

Chinese agriculture had originally developed from the cultivation of millet in the north and rice in the south. Wheat, oats, barley, and lentils were also cultivated, but were less important. In the Eastern Zhou period, farming techniques were gradually improved. Irrigation, the use of organic fertilizers, and carefully planned field management increased productivity. Arable land was reclaimed from swamps, lakes, foothills, and woodlands to increase agricultural production. These developments were crucial for survival in many states that were expanding and facing difficult interstate struggles.

Contact between the states, both in war and in peace, increased. Networks of roads were built to facilitate the movement of troops, as well as for interstate commerce. Archaeological findings indicate that metal coins were circulated far beyond the regions in which they were minted, which was a testament to the well-developed transportation network of the period. Administrative and military centers gradually grew into cities with tens of thousands of residents. In the late Warring States period, several major cities, such as Chang'an and Luoyang, had hundreds of thousands of people.

The metallurgical industry progressed in the development of bronze-casting techniques. In particular, the lost-wax method reached a high level of sophistication. The practice of casting weapons and farm implements out of iron had begun during the Spring and Autumn period, at the same time that the development of irrigation works had also become widespread. Together, these advances allowed the Zhou people to vastly increase their agricultural production, which in turn stimulated economic growth. In the Eastern Zhou period, copper and iron mining became important industries. Specialization of various trades and production techniques reached such a level that active commercialization was possible, which helped create a strong urban economy.

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