Zhou Dynasty | Chinese Dynasty Histories

The Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE) was one of the most culturally significant early Chinese dynasties and the longest-lasting in Chinese history, divided into two periods: Western Zhou (1046-771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (1046-771 BCE) (771-256 BCE). It succeeded the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE) and preceded the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE, pronounced "chin"), which gave China its name.

The Mandate of Heaven, which the House of Zhou invoked to depose and replace the Shang, was one of the Shang concepts developed by the Zhou. It was the belief in the monarch and ruling house as divinely appointed that would inform Chinese politics for centuries to come.

During the Western Zhou period, a decentralized state with a social hierarchy akin to European feudalism arose, in which land was owned by a noble, honor-bound to the king who had granted it, and worked by peasants. Western Zhou occurred just before the Spring and Autumn Period (c. 772-476 BCE), which was named after the state chronicles of the time (the Spring and Autumn Annals) and was notable for advances in music, poetry, and philosophy, particularly the development of the Confucian, Taoist, Mohist, and Legalist schools of thought.

Eastern Zhou relocated the capital to Luoyang and carried on the Western Zhou model, but with an ever-increasing breakdown of the imperial Chinese government, leading to the claim that the Zhou had lost the Mandate of Heaven. The king's weakness gave rise to the chaotic Warring States Period (c. 481-221 BCE), during which China's seven separate states fought each other for supremacy. This period ended with the victory of the Qin state over the others and the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, which attempted to erase the Zhou's achievements in order to establish its own primacy.

Agriculture, education, military organization, Chinese literature, music, philosophical schools of thought, social stratification, and political and religious innovations were all significant cultural contributions of the Zhou Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty laid the groundwork for many of these developments, but the form in which they came to be recognized is entirely credited to the Zhou.

The culture they established and maintained for nearly 800 years allowed for the development of the arts, metallurgy, and some of the most famous names in Chinese philosophy, including Confucius, Mencius, Mo Ti, Lao-Tzu, and Sun-Tzu, all of whom lived and wrote during the Hundred Schools of Thought period, during which individual philosophers established their own schools. The Zhou Dynasty's contributions laid the groundwork for the subsequent development of Chinese culture, most notably the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE), which fully recognized the Zhou Dynasty's contributions.