History UsefulNotes / ZhouDynasty

* ''Animation/JiangXia''

* '''Ji Chang, King Wen of Zhou''' (1075 BC – 1046 BC): [[TheGoodKing the Civilizing King]]. Actually not a king and only posthumously named so by his son. He is praised ''a lot'' in the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Poetry Classic of Poetry]] as a model ruler.

* '''Spring And Autumn Period (722 BC – 481 BC):''' The period's name derives from the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 479 BC. The supremacy of the central Zhou government goes into terminal decline. Being the golden age of Chinese philosophy (the so-called "Hundred Schools of Thought"), the period gave us Creator/{{Confucius}} (traditionally attributed as the author of the ''Annals'' mentioned above), allegedly Creator/{{Laozi}} (founder of {{UsefulNotes/Taoism}}), Sunzi (author of ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}''), and many other thinkers. A turbulent period when 148 regional rulers (many connected to the royal family) and their petty dukedoms (mostly city-states) contested with one another for influence and hegemony.

* '''Spring And Autumn Period (722 BC - 481 BC):''' The period's name derives from the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 479 BC. The supremacy of the central Zhou government goes into terminal decline. Being the golden age of Chinese philosophy (the so-called "Hundred Schools of Thought"), the period gave us Creator/{{Confucius}} (traditionally attributed as the author of the ''Annals'' mentioned above), allegedly Creator/{{Laozi}} (founder of {{UsefulNotes/Taoism}}), Sunzi (author of ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}''), and many other thinkers. A turbulent period when 148 regional rulers (many connected to the royal family) and their petty dukedoms (mostly city-states) contested with one another for influence and hegemony.
* '''Warring States Period (403 BC - 221 BC):''' The feudal system broke down entirely and, as the name indicates, the seven strongest states went into constant war. Eventually, the state of Qin united the land in 221 B.C. and a new dynasty began. Many historians believe that Creator/{{Laozi}} really lived at this time if he existed at all. Creator/{{Zhuangzi}} definitely did. The period started when the state of Jin was carved up between three families, who later formed the states of Han, Zhao and Wei. States pro and against Qin made alliances known as the horizontal and vertical alliances (合縱連橫/合纵连横, ''hé zòng lián héng'') with the School of Diplomacy dominating the stage. In 256 B.C., the last king of Zhou was deposed by the state of Qin. Legalism saw its development during this period; thinkers of the school include Shang Yang, Han Fei and Li Si. \\

The surname of kings of the dynasty is 'Jī' (姬). Perhaps better remembered for events and people at the beginning and towards the end of the period and their influence on later Chinese culture than for anything the dynasty actually did. The Zhou gradually became feudal since the Zhou kings were nominally rulers of a pretty large territory, but only directly ruled a relatively small royal domain, with everything else farmed out to ''de facto'' independent, but related feudal dukes. Later in the Dynasty, Zhou kings opted to install UrExample of Feudalism by appointing dukes themselves. By the time of Eastern Zhou, many of these former dukes outright proclaimed themselves as Kings, whereas the Zhou rulers retained the title of "son of heaven", which carried a more symbolic than practical significance.

The surname of kings of the dynasty is 'Jī' (姬). Perhaps better remembered for events and people at the beginning and towards the end of the period and their influence on later Chinese culture than for anything the dynasty actually did. Generally characterised as feudal since the Zhou kings were nominally rulers of a pretty large territory, but only directly ruled a relatively small royal domain, with everything else farmed out to ''de facto'' independent feudal dukes. \\

According to tradition, the foundations of the Zhou state were laid by King Wen; his son King Wu then defeated the Shang and established the Zhou Dynasty. Both kings were regarded as "sage kings" by later Confucians. While not a king himself, Duke Dan (the younger son of King Wen and thus brother of King Wu) was also regarded as a sagely ruler due to his regency when his nephew King Cheng was a minor. Dan is also a Chinese culture hero credited with writing the ''I Ching'' (易經/易经) and the ''Classic of Poetry'' (詩經/诗经), establishing the 'Rites of Zhou' (周禮/周礼), and creating the ''yǎyuè'' (雅樂/雅乐, lit. "elegant music") of Chinese classical music. The concept of the "Son of Heaven" (天子, ''Tiānzǐ'') appeared during this dynasty. One reason for Confucius's respect towards Duke Dan was that Duke Dan's descendants became the Dukes of Lu.[[note]]Confucius was a native of the state of Lu, although his ancestor was originally from the state of Song.[[/note]]\\

This era began with government official positions being hereditary in nature; by the middle part of the Warring States, almost every state had abolished this nature, although the replacement system differed from state to state. The state of Qin awarded positions based on merit earned during battles (essentially the number of heads submitted for counting); this ruthless system encouraged the demonisation of the Qin army as "armies of tigers and wolves" (虎狼之師/虎狼之师, ''hǔ láng zhī shī'').\\
\\

According to tradition, the foundations of the Zhou state were laid by King Wen; his son King Wu then defeated the Shang and established the Zhou Dynasty. Both kings were regarded as "sage kings" by later Confucians. While not a king himself, Duke Dan (the younger son of King Wen and thus brother of King Wu) was also regarded as a sagely ruler due to his regency when his nephew King Cheng was a minor. Dan is also a Chinese culture hero credited with writing the ''I Ching'' (易經/易经) and the ''Classic of Poetry'' (詩經/诗经), establishing the 'Rites of Zhou' (周禮/周礼), and creating the ''yǎyuè'' (雅樂/雅乐, lit. "elegant music") of Chinese classical music. The concept of the "Son of Heaven" (天子, ''Tiānzǐ'') appeared during this dynasty. One reason for Confucius's respect towards Duke Dan was that Duke Dan's descendants became the Dukes of Lu.[[note]]Confucius was a native of the state of Lu, although his ancestor was originally from the state of Song.[[/note]] This era began with government official positions being hereditary in nature; by the middle part of the Warring States, almost every state had abolished this nature, although the replacement system differed from state to state. The state of Qin awarded positions based on merit earned during battles (essentially the number of heads submitted for counting); this ruthless system encouraged the demonisation of the Qin army as "armies of tigers and wolves" (虎狼之師/虎狼之师, ''hǔ láng zhī shī'').\\

* '''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goujian King Goujian of Yue]]''': Or Yue Wang Gou Jian, a tenacious king from the Yue state during the Spring & Autumn period famous for his story of enduring humiliation and revenge and being a MagnificentBastard. Of all things, he managed to defend his land from an impossible battle against King Helu of Wu (who was at that time has Sun Tzu as his minister), but was forced to surrender into servitude by Helu's successor Fuchai. Not willing to give up, he endured his humiliating state while building up power base with his minister Fan Li, and weakening the Wu state via sabotaging, rumormongering or sending out the first of the UsefulNotes/FourBeautiesOfAncientChina, Xi Shi (西施), against Fuchai, and finally after all those, succeeding to liberate his own state. Also has a CoolSword [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Goujian with his name engraved on it.]]

The surname of kings of the dynasty is "Ji". Perhaps better remembered for events and people at the beginning and towards the end of the period and their influence on later Chinese culture than for anything the dynasty actually did. Generally characterised as feudal since the Zhou kings were nominally rulers of a pretty large territory, but only directly ruled a relatively small royal domain, with everything else farmed out to ''de facto'' independent feudal dukes. \\

According to tradition, the foundations of the Zhou state were laid by King Wen; his son King Wu then defeated the Shang and established the Zhou Dynasty. Both kings were regarded as "sage kings" by later Confucians. While not a king himself, Duke Dan (the younger son of King Wen and thus brother of King Wu) was also regarded as a sagely ruler due to his regency when his nephew King Cheng was a minor. Dan is also a Chinese culture hero credited with writing the "I Ching" and the "Book of Poetry", establishing the "Rites of Zhou", and creating the ''yǎyuè'' (雅樂/雅乐, lit. "elegant music") of Chinese classical music. The concept of the "Son of Heaven" (天子, ''Tiānzǐ'') appeared during this dynasty. One reason for Confucius's respect towards Duke Dan was that Duke Dan's descendants became the dukes of Lu (Confucius was a native of the state of Lu, although his ancestor was originally from the state of Song.). This era began with government official positions being hereditary in nature; by the middle part of the Warring States, almost every state had abolished this nature, although the replacement system differed from state to state. The state of Qin awarded positions based on merit earned during battles (essentially the number of heads submitted for counting); this ruthless system encouraged the demonisation of the Qin army as "armies of tigers and wolves" (虎狼之師/虎狼之师, ''hǔ láng zhī shī'').\\

* '''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goujian King Goujian of Yue]]''': Or Yue Wang Gou Jian, a tenacious king from the Yue state during the Spring & Autumn period famous for his story of enduring humiliation and revenge and being a MagnificentBastard. Of all things, he managed to defend his land from an impossible battle against King Helu of Wu (who was at that time has Sun Tzu as his minister), but was forced to surrender into servitude by Helu's successor Fuchai. Not willing to give up, he endured his humiliating state while building up power base with his minister Fan Li, and weakening the Wu state via sabotaging, rumormongering or sending out the first of the UsefulNotes/FourBeautiesOfAncientChina, Xi Shi, against Fuchai, and finally after all those, succeeding to liberate his own state. Also has a CoolSword [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Goujian with his name engraved on it.]]