why did the zhou dynasty last so long why did the zhou dynasty last so long

Then, King Wu returned to his capital in the Wei River Valley, where he passed away in 1043 BCE. [11] He even received sacrifice as a harvest god. Second, Zhou kings were unable to impose their will on feuding feudal lords and were even defeated by them in several military campaigns. However, in the course of doing so, he reinterpreted the past and imbued the virtues he stressed with rich, new meanings. These nobles were allowed to rule their own lands hereditarily, so long as they observed certain obligations to their king. The fighting went on for three years before the rebellion was put down, and finally the Zhou solidified their reign over all of China. 1046 BCE - 771 BCE. After the Xia and Shang, the next major dynasty in Chinese history is the Zhou Dynasty (1045 256 BCE). Second, they issued proclamations explaining to conquered peoples why they should accept Zhou rule. 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. King Xuan fought the Quanrong nomads in vain. NB: Dates in Chinese history before the first year of the Gonghe Regency in 841 BC are contentious and vary by source. The Shang Dynasty is the earliest ruling dynasty of China to be established in recorded history, though other dynasties predated it. 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. 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. This manual of military strategy and tactics stresses the importance of formulating a strategy that ensures victory prior to any campaigning. No longer able to impose their will on unruly noble lineages, Zhou kings failed to maintain a semblance of peace and order throughout the realm. Stratagem is critical. However, aside from the presence of royal overseers, a hereditary lord enjoyed relative sovereignty in his own domain. Kings also militarized their kingdoms landscapes by building forts at strategically critical passes, walls to mark off boundaries, and watch towers to signal the enemys approach. Rise and fall of the Zhou Dynasty | Knappily These Daoists largely rejected Confucian ideas about human moral development and social order as artificial constructs. The glue that held the Zhou feudal order together was deference to the king and his Mandate and reverence for their shared historyincluding, most importantly, the deceased spirits of their related ancestors. In later centuries, in China, Confucius was revered as a sage and teacher. According to one passage, a lord once asked one of Confuciuss students about his master, but the student fell silent. [39] As the Zhou emulated the Shang's large scale production of ceremonial bronzes, they developed an extensive system of bronze metalworking that required a large force of tribute labor. Confucius lived just prior to the Warring States Period (551-479 BCE). 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. Prior to the Warring States Period, it was the norm for nobility to hand out land in their states to kinsmen, just as it had been for the king during the Western Zhou. Living in hovels and with little opportunity to leave their lords manors, these farmers were required to work his lands and also to submit a portion of the harvest from their own small farms. (View the image of a Warring States Period soldier at the following link: http://brandonqindynasty.weebly.com/9/8580061.jpeg. 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. 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. 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. Whenever new territory was added or a noble line was extinguished, kings created counties and appointed magistrates to manage the villages and towns in that area. The Zhou Dynasty was the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history. Paradoxically, although the Dao is indescribable and cant be seen or heard, the goal of the Daoist is to accord with and follow it. The Zhou Dynasty collapsed slowly, over a period of hundreds of years, as the feudal rulers of outlying provinces gained more authority. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. After 540 wars were fought over two centuries, only fifteen states remained by 475 BCE (see Map \(\PageIndex{2}\)). Pottery continued Shang traditions and expanded greatly in variety of shapes and finishes during the Warring States period. 1 These selections from the Analects are translated in De Bary and Bloom, ed., Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to the Present, 44-63. Fngjin ( Chinese: ; lit. Major philosophies and religions emerged that were the basis of Chinese belief in later eras, such as Confucianism and Daoism. During the turmoil of the Warring States period, other individuals developed a philosophy very different from Confucianism called Daoism. His father died about the time Confucius was born, and he was raised by his mother, who also passed away when Confucius was young. Hence, battles became increasingly bloody and bitter, and victory went to those kings who could field the most effective killing machines. 1. Legal. [51], The Zhou army also included "Barbarian" troops such as the Di people. First, they established a secondary capital farther east at Luoyang [low-yawng], closer to the North China Plain. 3. 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. 841 BCE - 828 BCE. Daoist masters, claiming divine inspiration, composed esoteric texts for their followers. Iron, ox-drawn plows, crossbows, and horseback riding were all introduced; large-scale irrigation and water-control projects were also instituted for the first time, greatly increasing the crop yield of the North China Plain. . 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. Legal. But it was his son King Wu (Martial King) who brought down the Shang Dynasty. The most famous of these was Confucius, who taught a system of mutual duty between superiors and inferiors. At this point, the many lords had no intention of toppling the king; rather, seeing his military weakness, the most powerful ones stepped in to enforce order. [55] The Zhou wanted to increase the number of enlightenment seekers, mystics, and those who would be interested in learning about such things as a way to further distance their people from the Shang-era paradigm and local traditions. Over the course of the first millennium CE, Daoism also became a popular and institutionalized religion. [39], Zhou legitimacy also arose indirectly from Shang material culture through the use of bronze ritual vessels, statues, ornaments, and weapons. There were also two-story buildings and observation towers, and Laozi mentions a nine-story tower. Historians believe the Old Master was a fictional sage invented by Warring States Period philosophers who compiled the book attributed to him. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Trade was increased, towns grew up, coinage was developed, chopsticks came into use, and the Chinese writing system was created out of its primitive beginnings in the Shang period. The most recent findings have placed the outright start of the dynasty at 1046 bce. Thus, the dynasty had lost this sanction. Han dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Han, the second great imperial dynasty of China (206 bce-220 ce), after the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 bce). The Mandate of Heaven ( Tianming ), also known as Heaven's Mandate, was the divine source of authority and the right to rule of China 's early kings and emperors. In the latter period, the Zhou court had little control over its constituent states that were at war with each other until the Qin state consolidated power and formed the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. 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. We return to that topic after reviewing the ideas put forward by philosophers in the context of these centuries of turmoil. 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. 256 BCE. When the Qin dynasty fell and was replaced by the Han dynasty, many Chinese were relieved to return to the more humane virtues of Confucius. Why did the Zhou dynasty last so long? - Quora 'enfeoffment and establishment') was a political ideology and governance system in ancient China, whose social structure formed a decentralized system of confederation -like government [1] based on the ruling class consisting of the Son of Heaven (king) and nobles, and the lower class consisting of . [] According to the Zou commentary, the son of heaven divided land among his feudal lords, his feudal lords divided the land among their dependent families and so forth down the pecking order to the officers who had their dependent kin and the commoners who "each had his apportioned relations and all had their graded precedence""[44], This type of unilineal descent-group later became the model of the Korean family through the influence of Neo-Confucianism, as Zhu Xi and others advocated its re-establishment in China.[45]. Over the course of the first millennium CE, Daoism became a popular and institutionalized religion. Now, the Zhou royal court was faced with the task of governing newly conquered territory, including the former lands of the Shang Dynasty. Finally, these rulers no longer relied solely on close kinsmen to wage war alongside them. Instead, this warrior nobility engaged in an escalating contest for power and prestige. K.E. The Shang dynasty was conquered by the people of Zhou, who came from farther up the Yellow River in the area of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province. Under this system, it was the prerogative of spiritual authority to withdraw support from any wayward ruler and to find another, more worthy one. 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. 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. Despite these similarities, there are a number of important differences from medieval Europe. A "King Hui" was declared, but his splinter state was fully removed by 249 BC. 3.8: The Long Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BCE) - Social Sci LibreTexts The first qualification for a ruler or one who serves is moral rectitude. He saw the practice of morality in the family as the root. A person of humanity is, for instance, one who is capable of empathy and unselfish concern for the welfare of others. The Mandate of Heaven was presented as a religious compact between the Zhou people and their supreme god in heaven. During the Zhou dynasty, China underwent quite dramatic changes. Hence, it is hardly surprising that histories inform us that the many lords ceased to pay visits to the kings court. 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. They found that to make a empire beloved by its people, you should be nice to them. Consequently, society will become more orderly. In this capacity, Duke Huan had the authority to resolve disputes between nobles on behalf of the king. Jade ornaments and objects were used lavishly for funerary and ritual purposes, and ornamental carvings reflected superb craftsmanship. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. The Zhou Dynasty, the Longest-lasting of China's Dynasties Prior to the Warring States Period, it was the norm for nobility to hand out land in their states to kinsmen, just as it had been for the king during the Western Zhou. 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. King Wen (Cultured King) was this ruler, and revered as the founder of the Zhou dynasty. Stated more simply, Warring States Period rulers created administrative units and a civil service. Over time, ties of kinship lost their meaning. When King Ping was relocated to Luoyang, he ruled from a much smaller royal domain surrounded by approximately 150 feudal states and their lords. Whoosh! [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. It persisted all the way from the 11th to the 3rd century BC. The communication system was also greatly improved through the construction of new roads and canals. The military control of China by the royal house, surnamed Ji, lasted initially from 1046 until 771 BC for a period known as the Western Zhou, and the political sphere of influence it created continued well into the Eastern Zhou period for another 500 years. The beginning date of the Zhou has long been debated. We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. In about 771 b.c., the enemies attacked the Zhou capital of Hao. Zhou kings remained there for the next five hundred years, during the period called the Eastern Zhou. Chinas three major pre-modern philosophical and religious traditions are Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Why did the Qing Dynasty set up the capital of Xinjiang in Yili? Eventually, the noble lords of the most powerful states declared themselves as kings, and fought to gain control over all of China. What little we know about his life comes primarily from the Analects, a record of conversations Confucius held with his students compiled after he died. Search Results. First, ties of kinship so crucial to the founding of Zhou lost their meaning over time. The king and his regent did so by implementing three policies. Young men should be filial at home and respectful to their elders when away from home. (1.6) Filial piety is central to Confuciuss thought. He believed that, during the early Zhou, the nobility was honorable, observed moral codes, and upheld social standards. Two major philosophical traditions emerged to address these issues: Confucianism and Daoism. Yet, it would be wrong to conclude that he wasnt religious in any sense, because he frequently spoke of Heaven. There were two principal reasons for this. A series of states rose to prominence before each falling in turn, and Zhou was a minor player in most of these conflicts. 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. The decline of Zhou Dynasty was mainly caused by the corruption of the government. 5. Whenever new territory was added or a noble line was extinguished, kings created counties and appointed magistrates to manage the villages and towns in that area. The "Mandate of Heaven" is an ancient Chinese philosophical concept, which originated during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.E.). End of the Zhou Dynasty. He held this title (duke) and fief (Qi) because his distant ancestor had served as a commander under King Wu during the Zhou founding. He believed that a golden age existed in the past and wished to transmit the ethical values of that time. The last Zhou king is traditionally taken to be Nan, who was killed when Qin captured the capital Wangcheng[1] in 256 BC. The noble person, filial piety, humaneness, etiquette, Heaven, and government by men of virtue are just some of the ideas Confucius discussed as he traveled the feudal states seeking to advise their lords. [39] In this way, the Zhou sky god legitimized regime change. The line of Zhou kings had, however, already been extinguished in 256 BCE, so that date marks the end of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. 4. In contrast, the Legalists had no time for Confucian virtue and advocated a system of strict laws and harsh punishments. Fengjian - Wikipedia China Zhou Dynasty (1100-221BC) Any ruler who failed in this duty, who let instability creep into earthly affairs, or who let his people suffer, would lose the mandate. Nobles of the Ji family proclaimed Duke Hui of Eastern Zhou as King Nan's successor after their capital, Chengzhou, fell to Qin forces in 256 BC. Sources. Brashier writes in his book "Ancestral Memory in Early China" about the tsung-fa system of patrilineal primogeniture: "The greater lineage, if it has survived, is the direct succession from father to eldest son and is not defined via the collateral shifts of the lesser lineages. Over the next 250 years, during what is referred to as the Warring States Period (475 221 BCE), these states averaged one major battle per year until, at the very end, only one remained standing. After he died, they passed on his teachings, and a school of thought emerged from his teachings known as Confucianism. Zhou dynasty - Wikipedia Men farmed, and women spun cloth. Around 1046 BC, Wen's son Wu and his ally Jiang Ziya led an army of 45,000 men and 300 chariots across the Yellow River and defeated King Zhou of Shang at the Battle of Muye, marking the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. (View the image of a Warring States Period soldier at the following link: http://brandonqindynasty.weebly.com/9/8580061.jpeg. [51] Other possible cultural influences resulting from Indo-European contact in this period may include fighting styles, head-and-hooves burials, art motifs and myths. The ancient god or divine force known as Heaven or Sky had selected this particular individual to rule on its behalf on earth. Western Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang Dynasty in China. The remains of many of the feudal capitals during the Zhou period have been uncovered and reveal great buildings with rammed-earth floors and walls. Master Zhuang, however, lived during the fourth century BCE. Ji Zhao, a son of King Nan, led a resistance against Qin for five years. In return, the ruler was duty-bound to uphold heaven's principles of harmony and honor. But this goal wont be accomplished through more seeking and more knowledge. The Eastern Zhou, however, is also remembered as the golden age of Chinese philosophy: the Hundred Schools of Thought which flourished as rival lords patronized itinerant shi scholars is led by the example of Qi's Jixia Academy. According to the Duke of Zhou, Heaven had decreed that Shang kings must fall and Zhou rulers should replace them. During the Zhou dynasty, centralized power decreased throughout the Spring and Autumn period until the Warring States period in the last two centuries of the dynasty. 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. [49][50] Recent archaeological finds demonstrate similarities between horse burials of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and Indo-European peoples in the west. Upon being elected as their leader, the Zhou king conferred the title of hegemon. The rulers of this epoch were no strangers to battle, but they also created an environment where fascinating and long-standing cultural elements thrived. Now, the Zhou royal court was faced with the task of governing newly conquered territory, including the former lands of the Shang Dynasty. The principal purpose of these Daoists was to attend to a persons physical and psychological well-being. In discussions that demarcate between trunk and collateral lines, the former is called a zong and the latter a zu, whereas the whole lineage is dubbed the shi. To govern is to rectify. . If you lead the people by being rectified yourself, who will dare not be rectified? (12.17) Confucius believed that good governing flows from good men. By the end of this period, largely owing to the demands of warfare, the Zhou feudal order had been supplanted by a small number of powerful territorial states with centralized monarchies. He taught how a person becomes moral because a good society only develops when composed of and led by virtuous people. [35] When King You demoted and exiled his Jiang queen in favor of the beautiful commoner Bao Si, the disgraced queen's father the Marquis of Shen joined with Zeng and the Quanrong barbarians to sack Hao in 771 BC. We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. The period before 771 bce is usually known as the Xi (Western) Zhou dynasty, and that from 770 is known as the Dong (Eastern) Zhou dynasty. ), { "4.01:_Chronology_of_China_and_East_Asia_to_the_Ming_Dynasty" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.02:_Introduction_to_China_and_East_Asia_to_the_Ming_Dynasty" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.03:_Questions_to_Guide_Your_Reading" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.04:_Key_Terms" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.05:_Geography_of_East_Asia" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.06:_China_from_Neolithic_Village_Settlements_to_the_Shang_Kingdom" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.07:_The_Long_Zhou_Dynasty_(1046-_256_BCE)" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.08:_The_Qin_Dynasty_and_the_Transition_from_Ancient_to_Imperial_China" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.09:_The_Han_Dynasty_202_BCE-220_CE" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.10:_The_Period_of_Division_220-589CE" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.11:_The_Tang_Dynasty_and_the_Emergence_of_East_Asia" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.12:_The_Song_Dynasty" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.13:_The_Yuan_Dynasty" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.14:_Conclusion" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.15:_Works_Consulted_and_Further_Reading" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "4.16:_Links_to_Primary_Sources" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()" }, { "00:_Front_Matter" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "01:_Prehistory" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "02:_Early_Middle_Eastern_and_Northeast_African_Civilizations" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "03:_Ancient_and_Medieval_India" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "04:_China_and_East_Asia_to_the_Ming_Dynasty" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "05:_The_Greek_World_from_Bronze_Age_to_Roman_Conquest" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "06:_The_Roman_World_from_753_BCE_to_500_BCE" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "07:_Western_Europe_and_Byzantium_circa_500-1000_CE" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "08:_Islam_to_the_Mamluks" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "09:_African_History_to_1500" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "10:_The_Americas" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "11:_Central_Asia" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "12:_Western_Europe_and_Byzantium_circa_1000-1500_CE" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()", "zz:_Back_Matter" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.b__1]()" }, 4.7: The Long Zhou Dynasty (1046- 256 BCE), [ "article:topic", "license:ccbysa", "showtoc:no", "Zhou Dynasty", "Confucianism", "Daoism", "Taoism", "Mandate of Heaven", "Confucius", "beeline:print", "program:galileo", "authorname:gisrael" ], https://human.libretexts.org/@app/auth/3/login?returnto=https%3A%2F%2Fhuman.libretexts.org%2FBookshelves%2FHistory%2FWorld_History%2FBook%253A_World_History_-_Cultures_States_and_Societies_to_1500_(Berger_et_al.