Ancient china notes (Jenna)

Zhou Dynasty


1046 – 256 BC

• The Zhou Dynasty is said to be the longest lasting Dynasty in Chinese history.


What is the Zhou Dynasty?
A dynasty is basically a rulling family, generally (but not always) the power to rule would be handed down to the eldest son. There were many different rulling families in China throughout history, such as the mings, the shangs, the Qins and many others.
We will be focusing on the Zhou dynasty this lesson.
The Zhou dynasty covered a massive area of land, too large for the Zhou dynasty to handle because of lack of communication.
So the Zhou leaders decided to get people to watch over different territories of their land. The leader of each of these territories were the lords, receiving their title trough inheritance, next in importance were the fighting men, followed by the peasants and then eventually the domestic slaves.

Eventually these territories became more and more independent, until they had nothing to do with the Zhou Dynasty anymore.

At that time the Zhou dynasty was based on agricultural production and so the land of the lords was divided up into 3 by 3 squares, with the 8 outer squares being worked on by peasants (to grow crops.) No one really knows how much land was separated like this, but the lords found that it was the easiest way for them to look after their territories.




Religion

The Zhou kings believed that they were given the right to rule the lands by the heavens. The kings prayed and sacrificed to Shang Ti (meaning the lord on high) and to their ancestors.

The lords of the land prayed to the nature gods and their ancestors and they believed that if one of them forgot to worship and pray, misfortune would be cast upon them by the gods.


Eastern Zhou

Eventually the Zhou kings lost control of their land. The territories began to rebel along with non-Chinese forces and defeated the Zhou capital. During this the Zhou king was killed, but his son was saved and his son moved further to the east where he formed a new capital. The eastern state was devided into two time periods… the spring and autum period and the period of the warring states. the Zhou king gave up their military and political control over their territories in 770 BC.

Even though the Zhou had given their rights to the land away, they still believed that they were appointed by the heavens above and continued to be the ceremonial lords of the kingdoms.
There was constant warfare between territories, but never the less there was great economic growth.
The iron age
With the iron age, China got iron-tipped ox drawn plows… This improved irrigation techniques, which increased their agriculture and attracted more people to add to their population.
With more population came more wealth. People started becoming merchants and traders, this in turn improved communication skills and eventually communication through horseback became possible. This made life much easier for the lords as they could now watch over all their land and if a problem arose, could attend to it immediately.


The period of the warring states (475-221 BC)
The time period of the warring states is considered the classical age. The time of great philosophers (sometimes called the One Hundred Schools Period). Some of the most memorable poetry was written in this time.
The territories along the edges of the Zhou empire became non-Chinese countries. As the Zhou population got larger and grew in culture, it became more and more diverse. These kingdoms began to accept the new culture as their own.
One of these kingdoms was the Mounted Cavalry…
By the 6th century, several very powerful states arose from what once was Zhou territory. With the Zhou dynasty’s decline and the rise of power from the former territories, the situation in China became unstable. By the 5th century, all of the territories began to fight one another for what they believed in, as well as for power. This became known as the period of the warring states.
INTERESTING FACT

• The earliest armour known to be worn by the Chinese warriors (in the time of the shang dynasty, before the Zhou dynasty) was a light plated armour made from turtle shells, tied together with cords.
• As time went on, improvements were made and in the time of the Zhou dynasty’s reign the armour was made from leather. ( the hide came from buffalo and rhinoceros) here are some images of the armour they used to wear.
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