3. Zhou Dynasty.pdf

Rise
Great Leader
Achievements
Fall

Before the Zhou was the
Shang
1750-1045 BCE
Aristocracy
warlords
Anyang
Oracle bones
Human sacrifice
Ancestor worship
bronze

“The Enduring Zhou”
Early Zhou (Western Zhou) Period 1122 - 771 BCE
Spring and Autumn period (Eastern Zhou)) 771 - 481
BCE
Warring States era (during the Late Zhou), 481 - 221
BCE

I. Rise of the Zhou

Pattern: The Rise
1. Great Leader leads a rebellion or a conquest of
smaller, independent, neighboring political units.
2. Empires grow around trade centers or trade
networks.
3. The shape of empire is determined by geography.

Rise of the Zhou
1050 BCE King Wen of the
Zhou plans rebellion against
Shang Dynasty
1045 BCE King Wu (son of
King Wen) leads military
coalition
Actually Uncle Duke of
Zhou is in charge… Wen
just a boy
“blood thick enough in the
capital to float blocks of
wood”
King Wu of Zhou = first
King of Zhou, “Ji” family

Rise of the Zhou
Trade networks --
Made roads and canals
for trade reasons

Geography and the
Zhou

II. Great Leader of the
Zhou

Pattern: Great Leader
1. Great Leader who founds an empire borrows from
the past and uses religion to support his legitimacy
2. Great Leader skillfully exercises potestas and
autoritas (potestas = brute force power; autoritas =
authority from respect)
3. Succession is within Great Leader’s family, though
not all offspring are great.
4. Great Leader assembles a written law code

Mandate of Heaven
The take over of the
Zhou from the Shang
was credited with
the doctrine forming
a Mandate of
Heaven, which
provided that the
emperor or king
ruled by divine right.
If the rulers were
overthrown, the
Mandate of Heaven
was transferred to
the victors.

Pattern 4. Law Code
oldest document on law
= “Kang Gao”
instructions issued by
King Wu of Zhou to a
younger prince
How to govern a fief

III. Apex of the Zhou

1.
2.
Pattern: Achievements
There is a period of peace and prosperity at the height of an
empire (“Pax”).
Empires connect their districts with protected
road/communication networks.
3. Empires develop bureaucracy to manage the empire and divide it
into administrative districts such as provinces or satrapies.
4. Cultural diffusion occurs through trade.
5. Empires enjoy accomplishments in the arts, literature, sciences,
philosophy, and architecture during their height.
6. The language of the dominant culture or trading people becomes a
“lingua franca” for the region.
7. There is a social hierarchy with limited social mobility

Pattern 1. “Pax” of the
Permanent capital
(instead of moving) –
Xian on Wei river
Lasts until 8 th century
BCE when
fragmentation begins
Zhou

Pattern 2. protected
Road/Communication
Extremely limited – lack
Networks
of good infrastructure helped weaken king’s power…

Pattern 3. Bureaucracy
Corvee labor
Mandatory work for the
state for certain period
Bureaucracy – strong
centralized state, esp.
eastern Zhou period
Beginnings of
government jobs due to
talent instead of “who
you knew” (meritocracy)
Rise of the Shi

The Shi [“shr”]

Limited contact with other cultures
However…
Pattern 4. Cultural
Zhou people lived originally on western edge of
Shang realm
Adopted agriculture from the Shang
Other cultural features?
Diffusion
In this case, the cultural diffusion is within Chinese
culture zone

use of iron
Pattern 5.
Accomplishments
perfection of the calendar
regular astronomical observation & recording of astronomical
events
1 st geographical maps
division of China into the Nine Provinces
discovery of magnetism
acupuncture
Masters of bronze, horse drawn chariots, crossbow
Source: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/zhou-tech.html

Confucianism
Starts during Zhou dynasty
To be explained in the Han Dynasty in Topic 4 of this
course…

Square-Field or Well
Field System
井 (jǐng), = “well”
Square of land divided = nine
identically-sized sections
8 outer sections -- serfs
Produce all theirs
center – communally
cultivated for landowner
(aristocrat)
By the 8 families
All produce to owner
Owner send portion to King
all fields were aristocratowned

Source:
Big-time Agriculture
Fertilization
Animal-drawn plows
and farm tools
huge agricultural
expansion
Hunting becomes just a
sport
Huge populations in
some cities

directed by the government
government - store surplus
food & distribute it in times
of famine or bad harvest
Rice introduced this era
Irrigation
Reservoirs
Dams & sluices
large irrigation canal
system
Agriculture

Pattern 6. Lingua Franca
Chinese character for “listening”
written script evolved
into its modern form

Pattern 7. Social
Hierarchy
Leaders appoint people to
oversee each of the
territories
started off as walled off
cities.
leader of each of territories
= lords
receiving the title through
inheritance.
fighting men
peasants
slaves.

The Enduring Zhou
System: nobles own
land, peasants work it
“Son of Heaven”
Feudalism

IV. Fall of the Zhou

Patterns: The Fall
1. Leadership crisis: Government becomes corrupt. Leader may
be distant, incompetent, insulated by attendants or
uninterested.
2. There are foreign threats. This may take the form of mass
immigration or military threat.
3. Economic collapse – inflation, depression, money
devaluation, disruption of vital trade routes.
4. Through time, wealth becomes consolidated. The gap
between rich and poor widens. The tax burden is shifted to
the lower classes. Tension between classes increases.
5. Empire breaks up into smaller political units

Pattern 1. Leadership
royal line broken 8 th cen.
BCE
power of the Zhou court
gradually diminished
King Zhou Pingwang’s
(770 BCE) reign onwards,
the Zhou kings ruled in
name only
true power lying in the
hands of regional nobles
declaring themselves to
be independent kings
Crisis

Qin people
Pattern 2. Foreign
Migrate into region
from where Zhou
originate
Warfare within China
becomes “endemic” as
warlords fight to
consolidate power
Threats

Pattern 3. Economic
Local aristocrats cease
making tax payments
up the chain to the king
King no longer
powerful enough to
enforce
Collapse

Pattern 4. Gap between
Large populations
result from improved
farming
Land = wealth
In hands of aristocracy
Rich and Poor

Pattern 5. Breakup
fragmentation of the kingdom
Esp. Spring and Autumn period
Brief reunification 5 th century BCE
dynasty ended in 256 BCE when the last king of
Zhou died
King Nan of Zhou
none of his sons bothered to claim title of King of
China

nobles did not even
bother to symbolically
acknowledge loyalty to
the Ji family
Qin Shi Huang's
unification of China
concluded in 221 BC
with the establishment
of the.
Qin Dynasty

Cycle starts again…
Qin Shihuangdi
Great Wall
Legalism
Only 14 years…
Qin