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.

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.

IV.

Society

The feudal society of the Western Zhou had a pyramidlike structure. The state monopolized the distribution of resources. The nobility was held together in hierarchical lord-vassal relationships, in which the vassals were essentially the property of their lords. The Zhou feudal system, however, overlapped a kinship network that gave many nobles additional patriarchal authority over those of their vassals who were descended from the same lineage as they were. This system applied to the rulers of the vassal states and their noblemen as well. The peasants served the aristocrats by farming specific areas of land for their lord. In exchange, each peasant was assigned an area from which he could grow crops to feed his own household. The feudal class barriers between the nobles and their subjects could not be surmounted easily.

During the Spring and Autumn period, the feudal structure gradually crumbled. Aristocrats who lost their domains and status in interstate and intrastate conflicts fell from their privileged social positions, while those who proved themselves useful as soldiers, strategists, advisers, or administrators were promoted to higher positions. Economic development opened other channels of social mobility. Peasants who reclaimed land for themselves were not tied to the old feudal system. Wealth gathered by trade and production of marketable commodities provided merchants and craftsmen with social status. By the beginning of the Warring States period, this dramatic increase in social mobility had led to a reconstruction of society. Feudalism was dissolved and was replaced by an increasingly centralized government.

Despite these reforms, a huge gap still separated rich and poor, a fact that was visible in the large disparity in living conditions. The upper class lived in luxury, as shown by archaeological findings of fine bronze and jade artifacts in their well-built houses. The poor still lived lives not much better than those of their Neolithic ancestors, with dwellings that might be nothing more than a small earthen hut.

V.

Intellectual and Cultural Pursuits

When the Zhou dynasty was founded, its leaders justified their victory over the Shang by attributing it to the Mandate of Heaven. Early Zhou documents frequently discussed the Mandate of Heaven, which was allegedly bestowed upon the Zhou people because their morals and ethics were superior to those of the Shang. The Zhou leaders repeatedly warned their subjects that the Mandate of Heaven could be taken away if they failed to meet the expected standards of behavior. Over time, the Mandate of Heaven became a yardstick that the Chinese used to determine whether political authority was legitimate. Governments that didn't live up to this standard were often considered by the people to have lost the Mandate of Heaven, and were frequently overthrown by reformers and rebels who became heroes for doing so.

The Eastern Zhou period saw the rise of Confucianism. The teachings of Confucius (Kongfuzi, 551-479 bc), eventually became the principal school of thought in China. Confucius reinterpreted an existing code of aristocratic court behavior and applied it as a universal ethical code for all human beings. The central notion of Confucianism was ren (jen), which is translated variously as human nature, compassion, or love for all human beings. The teachings of Confucius were practical and ethical rather than religious. Although reverence for one's ancestors and the government's role as one of fatherly guidance were important in his ideas, the basic principle of Confucianism can be summarized simply as, “Do not do unto others what you do not like others doing unto you.”

Confucianism grew into a major school of thought during the Spring and Autumn period. There were, however, competing schools, such as Mozi's (470?-391 bc) emphasis on social justice, centralization of the government, and promotion on the basis of merit. In addition, Daoism (Taoism), which advocated self-cultivation and opposed the imposition of outside codes of conduct on the individual, flourished in this period.

Mencius (Mengzi, 371?-289 bc), a Confucian scholar, combined ren and Mozi's ideas about social justice into his concept that human nature is innately good. Another disciple of Confucius, Xunzi (Hsün-tzu, 298?-238 bc), broke from mainstream Confucianism by stating that human nature was inherently evil. He stressed education and culture as the only ways to reshape human character and to hold society together. Confucianism eventually became the most important element in Chinese thought.

Other schools of thought also flourished under the Eastern Zhou, including Legalism, which was based on Xunzi's ideas. This school developed a political philosophy that emphasized strict laws and punishments to control every aspect of society. Personal freedom was less important than a strong authoritarian state. The Legalists urged the socialization of capital, establishment of government monopolies, and other economic measures designed to increase the wealth of the state, strengthen its military power, and centralize administrative control. The concept of strong central authority was later embraced by the Qin dynasty in forming China's first unified government.

Scholars visiting courts of various states to advise rulers and ministers also founded an intellectual community that was instrumental in creating a common Chinese cultural heritage. This cultural community, together with the economic community of interregional trade, made China ready for political unification in 221 bc.

VI.

Legacy of the Zhou

During the eight centuries of the Zhou dynasty, China was transformed from a feudal state to one with a well-organized central government. As the structure of the state evolved, a new Chinese civilization developed. Cultural homogeneity increased as regional cultures interacted and goods and services were exchanged among regions. Deliberations on the fundamental ethics that guide human conduct also contributed to the formation of a new civilization. Despite various changes, this civilization essentially survived in China for the next 2000 years.