The Western Zhou early state[2] was successful for about seventy-five years and then slowly lost power. The former Shang lands were divided into hereditary fiefs which became increasingly independent of the king. In 771 BC, the Zhou were driven out of the Wei River valley; afterwards real power was in the hands of the king's nominal vassals.
Few records survive from this early period and accounts from the Western Zhou period cover little beyond a list of kings with uncertain dates. King Wu died two or three years after the conquest. Because his son, King Cheng of Zhou was young, his brother, the Duke of Zhou assisted the young and inexperienced king as regent. Wu's other brothers (Shu Du of Cai, Guan Shu, and Huo Shu), concerned about the Duke of Zhou's growing power, formed an alliance with other regional rulers and Shang remnants in a rebellion. The Duke of Zhou stamped out this rebellion and conquered more territory to bring other people under Zhou rule.[3][4]
The Duke formulated the Mandate of Heaven doctrine to counter Shang claims to a divine right of rule and founded Luoyang as an eastern capital.[5] With a feudal fengjian system, royal relatives and generals were given fiefs in the east,[3] including Luoyang, Jin, Ying, Lu, Qi and Yan. While this was designed to maintain Zhou authority as it expanded its rule over a larger amount of territory, many of these became major states when the dynasty weakened. When the Duke of Zhou stepped down as regent, the remainder of Cheng's reign (1042–1021 BC) and that of his son King Kang of Zhou (1021–996 BC) seem to have been peaceful and prosperous.
The fourth king, King Zhao of Zhou (996–977 BC) led an army south against Chu and was killed along with a large part of the Zhou army. The fifth king, King Mu of Zhou (977–922 BC) is remembered for his legendary visit to the Queen Mother of the West. Territory was lost to the Xu Rong in the southeast. The kingdom seems to have weakened during Mu's long reign, possibly because the familial relationship between Zhou Kings and regional rulers thinned over generations so that fiefs that were originally held by royal brothers were now held by third and fourth cousins; peripheral territories also developed local power and prestige on par with that of the Zhou royal family.[6]
The reigns of the next four kings (King Gong of Zhou, King Yi of Zhou (Ji Jian), King Xiao of Zhou, and King Yi of Zhou (Ji Xie)) (922-878 BC) are poorly documented. The ninth king is said to have boiled the Duke of Qi in a cauldron, implying that the vassals were no longer obedient. The tenth king, King Li of Zhou (877–841 BC) was forced into exile and power was held for fourteen years by the Gonghe Regency. Li's overthrow may have been accompanied by China's first recorded peasant rebellion. When Li died in exile, Gonghe retired and power passed to Li's son King Xuan of Zhou (827–782 BC). King Xuan worked to restore royal authority, though regional lords became less obedient later in his reign. The twelfth and last king of the Western Zhou period was King You of Zhou (781–771 BC). When You replaced his wife with a concubine, the former queen's powerful father, the Marquess of Shen, joined forces with Quanrong barbarians to sack the western capital of Haojing and kill King You in 771 BC. His killing resulted to beginning wars between local states which continued until Qin unification of China.[7] Some scholars have surmised that the sack of Haojing might have been connected to a Scythian raid from the Altai before their westward expansion.[8] Most of the Zhou nobles withdrew from the Wei River valley and the capital was reestablished downriver at the old eastern capital of Chengzhou near modern-day Luoyang. This was the start of the Eastern Zhou period, which is customarily divided into the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period.
It is possible that the Zhou kings derived most of their income from royal lands in the Wei valley. This would explain the sudden loss of royal power when the Zhou were driven east, but the matter is hard to prove. In recent decades, archaeologists have found a significant number of treasure hoards that were buried in the Wei valley about the time the Zhou were expelled.[citation needed] This implies that the Zhou nobles were suddenly driven from their homes and hoped to return, but never did.
^"...these early states are best known from archaeology and history to have been ruled by the dynastic houses such as that of Shang (1554–1046 BC) and of Western Zhou (1045–771 BC)."
Early China A Social and Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, 2013, page 6.
^"...these early states are best known from archaeology and history to have been ruled by the dynastic houses such as that of Shang (1554–1046 BC) and of Western Zhou (1045–771 BC). Therefore, they can be called the early “royal states.”"
Early China A Social and Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, 2013, page 6.
^"...The collapse of the Western Zhou state in 771 BC and the lack of a true central authority thereafter opened ways to fierce inter-state warfare that continued over the next five hundred years until the Qin unification of China in 221 BC,"
Early China A Social and Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, 2013, page 6.
The Zhou dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang dynasty and preceded the Qin dynasty. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history. The military control of China by the royal house, surnamed Ji, lasted initially from 1046 until 771 BC for a period known as the Western Zhou and the political sphere of influence it created continued well into Eastern Zhou for another 500 years.
Duke of Zhou
Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou, commonly known as the Duke of Zhou, was a member of the royal family of the Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for acting as a capable and loyal regent for his young nephew King Cheng, and for successfully suppressing the Rebellion of the Three Guards and establishing firm rule of the Zhou dynasty over eastern China. He 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 yayue of Chinese classical music.
Li County, Gansu
Li County or Lixian is an administrative division of the prefecture-level city of Longnan in southeastern Gansu, a northwestern province of China. The 2010 Chinese census found a population of 458,237, a decline of around 25,000 from the year 2000 but still placing it second in size within its prefecture.
Western Guo
Western Guo was a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty. "Guo" was a kinship group that held at least five pieces of territory within the Zhou realm at various times.
Xirong
Xirong or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the extremities of ancient China known as early as the Shang dynasty. They were typically to the west of the later Zhou state from the Zhou Dynasty onwards. They were mentioned in some ancient Chinese texts as perhaps related to the people of the Chinese civilization.
Fenghao
Fenghao is the modern name of the twin city formed by the Western Zhou capitals of Feng and Hao on opposite banks of the Feng River near its confluence with the Wei River in Shaanxi, China.
Rebellion of the Three Guards
The Rebellion of the Three Guards, or less commonly the Wu Geng Rebellion, was a civil war, instigated by an alliance of discontent Zhou princes, Shang loyalists, vassal states and non-Chinese peoples against the Zhou government under the Duke of Zhou's regency in the latter 11th century BC.
Eastern Zhou
The Eastern Zhou was the second half of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. It is divided into two periods: the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States.
