Zhou dynasty

Zhou Dynasty
Zhou dynasty was the longest- ruling dynasty in Chinese which was over 800 years with 34 kings. It was the brilliant achievements in culture too.

Zhou map

Zhou dynasty was divided into two periods: Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou.








The Western Zhou was between the 11th century BC - 771 BC and had Haojing as the capital


The Eastern Zhou was between 770 - 256 B.C. and the capital was moved east to the present-day Luoyang.






Government

– After the fall of Shang dynasty, the Zhou ruler prohibited people from excessive drinking and finally the drinking vessels commonly vanishes
– The land of the Zhou dynasty was too much so there were problems about communication which made the Zhou leaders had difficulties in communicated.
– Divide the territories: the leaders of each territory oversee their lands.(this system called Hierarchy)
- The leaders of each of the territories were the lords
- next in the hierarchy were the fighting men
- followed by the peasants
- and the domestic slaves
– This system cause problem because these territories became more independent and some broke away from the main Zhou dynasty leaders.
– In 770 BCE, the Zhou kings lost control of the territories they had delegated to their lords and the new dynasty become known as “The Eastern Zhou”.

Chinese Hierarchy System

Philosophy
-- Kings believes that they were given “a mandate of heaven” to rule.
- “the son of heaven”
- King prayed and sacrificed to the Lord on High, heaven, and their ancestors.
- Lords pray for the local nature gods, gods of agriculture and their ancestors
- If they were misses the kingdom will fall because the neglectful leader.
-- The Golden Age of Chinese Philosophy (403 BCE- 221 BCE)
- Confucianism was the most influence philosophy. They believed in order and relationship, the govern of the king, looking back to the past to elder and ancestor. This believes leaded this period to use Hierarchal system.
- Taoism was another school of philosophy. The Taoist philosophy was based on simplicity. The belief is that the government should be hands off, and let the people deal with the problems of nature and the people should return to primitive agricultural communities.

Kong Fu-Zi or Confucious : the father of Confucianism

Lao Tzu Father of Taoism

Economic

The Western Zhou made a further achievement in social economy. During this time, there was great economic growth. Slaves were popularly exploited in pursue of the product of greater surpluses. Handcrafts progressed in this period and the bronze industry was especially important. The bronze workshops controlled by the central government. Bronze products greatly increased in quality, quantity and variety so that their use covered nearly all aspects of life. Bazaars appeared in some larger towns, where silk, weapons, cattle as well as slaves were traded. In addition, script became more widely used. People not only engraved inscriptions on oracle bones, but also engraved epigraphs on thousands of bronze utensils, recording the social life of that time.

This bronze cache, which belonged to the famous Shan clan of the Western Zhou Dynasty, represents the first time that 27 bronze pieces have been unearthed in a single cache, each with engraved inscriptions.

Ceremonial bronze gui, late 11th–early 10th century BC, Zhou dynasty; in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Social Changes

The Zhou dynasty was based on agricultural production. In 770 BCE which the begining of eastern Zhou move the capital father East. China entered its Iron Age, The Iron Age brought iron-tipped oxdrawn plows and improved irrigation techniques which increased the agricultural yield which in turn increased the population. With the increase in population came greater wealth, and people started to become merchants and traders.

A Chinese Seed Drill: This technology was used in China for thousands of years before it was introduced into Europe

A Chinese cast iron plow

With the explosion of the merchant and trader class, the improvement of communication was inevitable. The improvement came in the form of expanding the horseback communication system. This increase in the economic situation allowed the rulers to control more and more territories. Communication was far better than before, and a ruler could have a larger empire and still be kept up to date on situations that may arise.

The Emperor in Ceremonial Armour on Horseback.

Leaders

1.) King Wu : the first king of Zhou dynasty
- he tried to accomplish his father’s dying wish which was defeat of the Shang dynasty
- 1048, as the Shang government was in a shamble the Zhou government became stronger, so King Wu and his dukes launched an attack Shang.
- Shang forces were destroy; the last king of suicide by burning himself with his palace.

King Wu was known as the God of Warfare because of his knowledge of using metal and iron as weapons.

2.) King You: the twelfth of Zhou dynasty and the last king of Western Zhou.
- He had a daughter who didn’t like to laugh so he fool the nobles with the beacon into thinking that there was a danger of enemies attacking and it made her laugh.
- He did it many times which caused he lose the trust from the nobles.
- When the danger did come, he called for the noble but noon trust him thus none of them came.
- King You was killed which marked "the end" of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

3.) Eribu-Marduk

Eribu-Marduk lived in around 770 BC. On the Assyrian kings death a Chaldean took power, becoming the first Chaldean king of Babylon, unfortuantely his name is not known, but in around 770BC he was succeeded by Eribu-Marduk who was the founder of the Caldean dynastic line.

4.) Prince Vijaya

Prince Vijaya was a person who found Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was called Ceylon or the land of Sinhala's at that time.Around 540BC, the exiled prince Vijaya arrived with 700 of his loyal followers arrived in the island. he conquered all three tribes of the Veddhas. This explains the common roots of both Tamil and Sinhala.It was during this period that people started arriving from northern India and started colonising the island.

Summary

1.) Map: Zhou dynasty was divided in to two period; Western and Eastern Zhou.
2.) Government: In the Zhou dynasty they govern by using hierarchy system
3.) Philosophy: The Kings believed in the mandate of heaven; Confucianism and Taoism were two popular philosophies in Zhou Dynasty.
4.) Economic: This dynasty, people started to trade, there were bazaars where silk, weapons, cattle and slaves were traded as the first time.
5.) Social changes: Zhou dynasty was a great economic growth; they improved irrigation techniques and invented iron- tipped oxdrawn plow which help people increase their agriculture yield.
6.) Leader: There were 34 kings controlled Zhou dynasty and all of them believed in the mandate of heaven and used hierarchy system for governing the land.

Timeline

1. 1122 BC: The beginning of Zhou dynasty


2. 828 BC: Soldiers revolted because of a corrupt and decadent king; King Li


3. 770 BC: The end of Western Zhou and the beginning of Eastern Zhou


4. 551 BC: Confucius was born


5. 340 BC-278 BC: A period when Qu Yuan, a great poet and politician was living


6. 256 BC: The end of Eastern Zhou
   

Others

• The Zhou was originally a dependent state to the Shang Dynasty (17th- 11th century BC)


• The Ancestor of the Zhou tribe was Di Wu


• From the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the unification by the Qin, China was plagued by disunity and continuous conflict. Historically, this period is recorded as the Spring and Autumn Period (770- 476BC) and the Warring States Period (476- 221BC).

Resources
http://www.chinahighlights.com/map/western_zhou_dynasty_map.htm
http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/node_63.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/zhou.html
http://www.pitt.edu/~pittanth/grad/research/indrisanophd.html
http://www.adventurelanka.com/Sri_Lanka/sri_lanka_history_and_culture.htm
http://www.belteshazzar.com/article-26