why did the zhou dynasty last so long

Relocated to Luoyang, King Ping ruled from a much smaller royal domain surrounded by approximately 150 feudal states and their lords. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zhou-dynasty, World History Encyclopedia - Zhou Dynasty, Ancient Origins - The Zhou Dynasty: The Longest-Lasting Dynasty in Chinese History, Social Science LibreTexts Library - The Long Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BCE), Zhou dynasty - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). In later centuries, the Daoism of these early philosophers was taken in new directions. This page titled 4.7: The Long Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BCE) is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Israel (University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials) . The capital was sacked, and he was killed. Accessibility StatementFor more information contact us [email protected] check out our status page at https://status.libretexts.org. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. It was the last period of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-221 BC). In about 771 b.c., the enemies attacked the Zhou capital of Hao. [9][10] Qi was a culture hero credited with surviving three abandonments by his mother and with greatly improving agriculture,[9] to the point where he was granted lordship over Tai, the surname Ji, and the title Houji "Lord of Millet", by the Emperor Shun. In the context of his time, Confucius was a dynamic individual who believed he was mandated by Heaven to return the world to a more socially and politically harmonious time. It is therefore not surprising that during this time some of Chinas greatest military treatises were written, most notably the Art of War by Master Sun [sue-in]. He taught how a person becomes moral because a good society only develops when composed of and led by virtuous people. Even though they garnered the support of independent-minded nobles, Shang partisans, and several Dongyi tribes, the Duke of Zhou quelled the rebellion, and further expanded the Zhou Kingdom into the east. . The Zhou Dynasty was the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history. That involved not only teaching individual techniques for preserving the life spirit, but included the use of exorcism and faith healing to remove malevolent influences. The Zhou created the Mandate of Heaven: the idea that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China at a time, and that this ruler had the blessing of the gods. Master Zhuang, however, lived during the fourth century BCE. Among them, the most successful was the state of Qin, which eventually conquered all of China and became an empire. At that point, when the individual is in accord with the ineffable Way, life becomes spontaneous, natural, and effortless. After the Xia and Shang, the next major dynasty in Chinese history is the Zhou Dynasty (1045 256 BCE). Pottery continued Shang traditions and expanded greatly in variety of shapes and finishes during the Warring States period. ), the ruling house of Zhou exercised a certain degree of "imperial" power over most of central China. Large bronzes were cast to commemorate these occasions (see Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). 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 . Daoists even entertained the idea that one could become immortal. In 1046, with three-hundred chariots and 45,000 foot soldiers equipped with bronze armor and pole-mounted dagger-axes, he met and decisively defeated the last Shang king and his army. Burgeoning turmoil also inspired much thinking about what was needful to restore order and create a good society, as well as what defined the good life. Stated more simply, Warring States Period rulers created administrative units and a civil service. However, he only managed to hold some minor offices in Lu and generally failed in his political aspirations. The capital was moved eastward to Wangcheng,[1] marking the end of the "Western Zhou" (, pX Zhu) and the beginning of the "Eastern Zhou" dynasty (, pDng Zhu). [39] In this way, the Zhou sky god legitimized regime change. It persisted all the way from the 11th to the 3rd century BC. According to one passage, a lord once asked one of Confuciuss students about his master, but the student fell silent. The Shang Dynasty is the earliest ruling dynasty of China to be established in recorded history, though other dynasties predated it. By so doing, ones health would be preserved and life prolonged. For more than 800 years (9-17 centuries), the Central Plains dynasty failed to effectively control Xinjiang (the Xinjiang was directly under the jurisdiction of Chahe Tai Khan during the Yuan Dynasty). [17][e] The Zhou emulated extensively Shang cultural practices, perhaps to legitimize their own rule,[20] and became the successors to Shang culture. Taibo and Zhongyong had supposedly already fled to the Yangtze delta, where they established the state of Wu among the tribes there. Their central concept is the Dao (Way). By the end of the Zhou period and the early Qin dynasty, men and women were increasingly separated. The first qualification for a ruler or one who serves is moral rectitude. The book of odes written during the Zhou period clearly intoned this caution.[38]. The Dao is mysterious: it is beyond sense perception and yet the source of life and the universe, the ultimate truth transcending the polarities that make up life and yet pervades them, empty and yet the mother of all things. His father died about the time Confucius was born, and he was raised by his mother, who also passed away when Confucius was young. As the empire was breaking up, arts and culture were flowering in the various component states, encouraged and stimulated by the highly localized interests that fed the impulse toward independence of the empire. The visual arts of the Zhou dynasty reflect the diversity of the feudal states of which it was composed and into which it eventually broke up. In later centuries, the Daoism of these early philosophers was taken in new directions. From there, these illustrious lineages governed a predominantly rural population of farmers living in villages where life was not easy. At their royal palaces, Zhou kings conducted ceremonies of investiture during which they sacrificed to Heaven and the spirits of deceased ancestors, held banquets, and then bestowed noble titles and grants of land upon members of the royal family and relatives by marriage. According to the Duke of Zhou, Heaven had decreed that Shang kings must fall and Zhou rulers should replace them. Prior to the Warring States Period, Zhou kings were still accorded a level of respect, at least as symbols of unity and nominal heads of the Zhou feudal order. At their royal palaces, Zhou kings conducted ceremonies of investiture during which they sacrificed to Heaven and the spirits of deceased ancestors, held banquets, and then bestowed noble titles and grants of land upon members of the royal family and relatives by marriage. Lords of the seven most powerful states lost respect for the Zhou kings and even assumed the same title, thus claiming the right to unify all of China under their rule. 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]. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 3. The Shang dynasty had begun with wise and benevolent rulers, but later kings were cruel and incompetent, and failed to see to the well-being of their subjects. However, aside from the presence of royal overseers, a hereditary lord enjoyed relative sovereignty in his own domain. To govern is to rectify. For a king, however, these men might become an obstacle or pose a threat because they held this land hereditarily. In 771 BCE, for instance, King You [yo] was attacked by the allied forces of the lord of Shen and tribal peoples residing out west. As they did so, their lands evolved into powerful states (see Map \(\PageIndex{2}\)). King Hui of Zhou married a princess of the Red Di as a sign of appreciation for the importance of the Di troops. The last Zhou king is traditionally taken to be Nan, who was killed when Qin captured the capital Wangcheng[1] in 256 BC. After the move, the Zhou dynasty was weakened even more by a threat from within. Because of this, the Zhou moved their capital city east to the North China Plain. Burgeoning turmoil also inspired much thinking about what was needful to restore order and create a good society, as well as what defined the good life. The Mandate of Heaven was presented as a religious compact between the Zhou people and their supreme god in heaven. If those who lead do so by virtue and conduct themselves according to rules of propriety, people will learn from them and develop a sense of honor and shame. The chancellor of Wei, Sunshu Ao, who served King Zhuang of Chu, dammed a river to create an enormous irrigation reservoir in modern-day northern Anhui province. Others followed, marking a turning point, as rulers did not even entertain the pretence of being vassals of the Zhou court, instead proclaiming themselves fully independent kingdoms. Attending lords cemented their agreements by swearing oaths and drinking the blood of sacrificed animals. It was not until the Dong Zhou and the classical age of Confucius and Laozi that unique local traditions became apparent. Noble lords loved to demonstrate their prowess and raise their prestige through success in hunting and battling. The definition of the Way was broadened to include the idea that individuals have a spiritual essence in need of harmonizing and liberation. [35] In 403 BC, the Zhou court recognized Han, Zhao, and Wei as fully independent states. [d] The Zhou enfeoffed a member of the defeated Shang royal family as the Duke of Song, which was held by descendants of the Shang royal family until its end. His and his successors power was, however, much reduced. Chinese dynasty lasting from c.1046 to 256 BC, For other dynasties with the same name, see, Population concentration and boundaries of the Western Zhou dynasty (1050771 BC) in China, Mandate of Heaven and the justification of power, The exact location of Bin remains obscure, but it may have been close to, Sima Qian was only able to establish historical dates after the time of the, '"Major Hymns - Decade of the Birth of Our People -, Shaughnessy, E. L. (1999) "Western Zhou History" in Loewe, M. They killed the Zhou king and took control of the whole Wei River Valley. The noble person is concerned with rightness, the small person is concerned with profit. (4.16) Confucius redefined the meaning of nobility. Rather, they pointed to a natural condition that both individuals and society can recover, one that existed before desires trapped people in a world of strife. A series of states rose to prominence before each falling in turn, and Zhou was a minor player in most of these conflicts. But these centuries were not only marked by the growth of states and accelerating warfare between them. These hereditary classes were similar to Western knights in status and breeding, but unlike the European equivalent, they were expected to be something of a scholar instead of a warrior. The Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE) was among the most culturally significant of the early Chinese dynasties and the longest lasting of any in China's history. We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. 5. He believed that Heaven ordains a certain course of life for each individual, including becoming a moral person. Zhou Dynasty Timeline. [21] At the same time, the Zhou may also have been connected to the Xirong, a broadly defined cultural group to the west of the Shang, which the Shang regarded as tributaries. They know the golden rule: what you would not want for yourself, he taught, do not do to others. (15.23) Confucius emphasized that a society cannot function if people are incapable of taking others perspectives and doing their best for them. His young son took the throne, but was placed under the regency of Wus capable brother, the Duke of Zhou. This practice meant that lesser but related aristocratic lineages lived in estates across each nobles territory, while also serving as ministers at his court. As the frequency and scale of warfare escalated, and states gradually gobbled each other up, the way feudal lords governed their states and conducted military campaigns changed. [58] Zhou is also represented by the star Beta Serpentis in asterism "Right Wall", Heavenly Market enclosure (see Chinese constellations).[59]. The most famous of these was Confucius, who taught a system of mutual duty between superiors and inferiors. When King Ping was relocated to Luoyang, he ruled from a much smaller royal domain surrounded by approximately 150 feudal states and their lords. With the decline of the feudal kings power, de facto power fluctuated among various of the feudal chiefs as they were able to make themselves overlords. We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. bc, Chinadied 1046 bc, China), last sovereign ( c. 1075-46 bc) of the Shang dynasty ( c. 1600-1046 bc ), who, according to legend, lost his empire because of his extreme debauchery. Their embryonic bureaucracies included such features as a system of official posts, salaries paid in grain and gifts, administrative codes, and methods for measuring a servants performance. Confucius was born to a family of minor nobility and modest means in the feudal state of Lu. To support the empire in the east and its loyal feudal rulers, an eastern capital was built at Luoyang on the middle reaches of the Huang He. (The line of Zhou kings had, however, already been extinguished in 256 BCE, so that date marks the end of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.). They know the golden rule: what you would not want for yourself, he taught, do not do to others. (15.23) Confucius emphasized that a society cannot function if people are incapable of taking others perspectives and doing their best for them. Two major philosophical traditions emerged to address these issues: Confucianism and Daoism. For example, in 771 BCE, King You [yo] was attacked by the allied forces of the lord of Shen and tribal peoples residing out west. Upon being elected as their leader, the Zhou king conferred the title of hegemon. Historians call this method of governing Zhou kinship feudalism. 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. The greatest Chinese philosophers, those who made the greatest impact on later generations of Chinese, were Confucius, founder of Confucianism, and Laozi, founder of Taoism. Traditionally, it has been given as 1122 bce, and that date has been successively revised as scholars have uncovered more archaeological evidence. 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. He believed that, during the early Zhou, the nobility was honorable, observed moral codes, and upheld social standards. Finally, these rulers no longer relied solely on close kinsmen to wage war alongside them. There were two principal reasons for this. [30], King Wu maintained the old capital for ceremonial purposes but constructed a new one for his palace and administration nearby at Hao. Wary of the Duke of Zhou's increasing power, the "Three Guards", Zhou princes stationed on the eastern plain, rose in rebellion against his regency. The Qin absorbs the remains of the Zhou state. [22] For example, Chinese philosopher Mencius (372289 BCE) acknowledged that King Wen of Zhou had ancestry from among the Xirong, as King Wen's descendants, the Zhou kings, claimed ancestry from the legendary cultural hero Hou Ji, who might be related to the Xirong through his mother Jiang Yuan;[23][24][25][26] additionally, the historical narrative and commentary work Zuo Tradition (late 4th-century BCE) mentioned that the baron of Li Rong (Chinese: ) (in today western China), after being defeated by Jin, married off his daughter Li Ji (Chinese: ; lit. Even he did not dare to take the ultimate move released by the Wu Ji patriarch head-on, let alone Gu Mingzhou. Sources. The decline of Zhou Dynasty was mainly caused by the corruption of the government. 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". To mobilize large numbers of men for war and supply them with weapons and grain, kings devised ways to make their realms more productive and compliant with their will. But they fought even more fiercely. NB: Dates in Chinese history before the first year of the Gonghe Regency in 841 BC are contentious and vary by source. There were two principal reasons for this. The remaining Ji family ruled Yan and Wei until 209 BC. Both the purpose and conduct of warfare changed. Other states came to the rescue, relocating the kings son, Prince Ping, to the eastern capital at Luoyang. In the early centuries of Zhou rule, during the Western Zhou (1046 771 BCE), Zhou kings dispatched kinsmen to territories he granted to them (see Map \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Feudalism is generally a political and economic system characterized by fragmented authority, a set of obligations (usually of a military nature) between lords and vassals, and grants of land (fiefs) by rulers in exchange for some type of service. [56] [citation needed]. Centralization became more necessary as the states began to war among themselves and decentralization encouraged more war. The line of Zhou kings had, however, already been extinguished in 256 BCE, so that date marks the end of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Daoist masters, claiming divine inspiration, composed esoteric texts for their followers that explained how the natural world originated from a primordial ether (qi) and its division into two polar forces: the yin and yang (see Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\)). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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. One obvious difference is that the Zhou ruled from walled cities rather than castles. One description of an elite soldier states that he wears heavy armor, shoulders a large crossbow and fifty arrows, straps a halberd to his back, buckles a helmet to his head, and places a sword to his side.) In later centuries, in China, Confucius was revered as a sage and teacher. Later generations of Chinese have regularly studied the Zhou dynasty for information regarding the origin of their civilization. But they fought even more fiercely. Whoosh! 2. The later Wei statesman Ximen Bao, who served Marquis Wen of Wei (445396 BC), was the first hydraulic engineer of China to have created a large irrigation canal system. These kinsmen took their families, contingents of soldiers, and emblems of nobility to the granted territory and set up palaces and ancestral temples in walled towns. 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. This way, the government was able to store surplus food and distribute it in times of famine or bad harvest. [] On one hand, every son who is not the eldest and hence not heir to the lineage territory has the potential of becoming a progenitor and fostering a new trunk lineage (Ideally he would strike out to cultivate new lineage territory). Qin's unification of China concluded in 221 BC with Qin Shihuang's annexation of Qi. The Zhou heartland was the Wei River valley; this remained their primary base of power after conquering the Shang. Yet, it would be wrong to conclude that he wasnt religious in any sense, because he frequently spoke of Heaven. Here are a few of the important statements Confucius made, and what they meant: 1. Daoists also developed communal prayers and rituals that could cure illness, free souls from hell, win blessings from heaven, and eliminate sins from the community. Although (with the exception of a few works on silk) no painting survives from the Zhou, written descriptions of paintings evidence their themes, including figures, portraits, and historic scenes. In this capacity, Duke Huan had the authority to resolve disputes between nobles on behalf of the king. This move marked the beginning of the Eastern Zhou (770 256 BCE). The Eastern Zhou was characterized by an accelerating collapse of royal authority, although the king's ritual importance allowed over five more centuries of rule. Over time, this decentralized system became strained as the familial relationships between the Zhou kings and the regional dynasties thinned over the generations. ), known as the Western Zhou (1046-771 B.C. During the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army calmed down the Western Regions again, but set the capital of Xinjiang to Yili. Over time, Zhou kings lost their ability to control these lords, and the lords became increasingly independent. In later generations, lords simply became more interested in and identified with their own territories, and they had little sense of solidarity with distant cousins ruling neighboring feudal states. The Confucian chronicle of the early years of this process led to its title of the "Spring and Autumn" period. 4: China and East Asia to the Ming Dynasty, Book: World History - Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 (Berger et al. In victory, a noble redressed matters of honor and brought glory to his ancestors, something symbolized by the mound of dead enemies placed by his ancestral temple. In addition to these rulers, King Wu's immediate ancestors Danfu, Jili, and Wen are also referred to as "Kings of Zhou", despite having been nominal vassals of the Shang kings. Zhou kings remained there for the next five hundred years, during the period called the Eastern Zhou. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. A lesser line is the line of younger sons going back no more than five generations. Over time, however, Zhou kinship feudalism failed to function as intended by the founding rulers. 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. The first was Duke Huan of Qi [who-an of chee]. Fengjian. During this time, some of Chinas greatest military treatises were written, most notably the Art of War by Master Sun [sue-in]. This page titled 3.8: The Long Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BCE) is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by George Israel (University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials) .