ANCIENT CHINA MAY 11, 2016
The Zhou Dynasty
Reading Check
SUMMARIZE:
What was the social
structure of the Zhou?
Analysis Skill
ANALYZE MAPS:
What major rivers
flowed through the
land of Zhou?
The Zhou dynasty was China’s longest-ruling The nobles got their land from the king. In
dynasty. The dynasty began in 1122 b.c. and ended in return, they gave the king military support and other
256 b.c. Under the Zhou and the dynasties that services. This political system of exchanging land for
followed, China became powerful. loyalty is known as feudalism.
Most historians believe that the Zhou culture The peasants worked the nobles’ land and paid
began in the Wei River Valley, west of the Shang them for its use with goods and services. The lives of
kingdom. In time, the Zhou moved east until they peasants were full of hardships. Not only did the
finally met the Shang. peasants farm, they also served in Zhou armies. In
The Zhou worshipped a god they called Tian, or return, the nobles protected the peasants from the
“Heaven.” In about 1122 b.c., the Zhou ruler, King enemies of the Zhou people.
Wu, won victory over the Shang. This conquest led
to the beginning of the Zhou dynasty. According to
the Zhou, the god Tian allowed King Wu to conquer
the Shang kingdom. Tian did this, the Zhou said,
The Duke of Zhou
because the Shang kings were cruel.
played a major role in
The Zhou believed that Tian gave certain people consolidating the
an order, known as the Mandate of Heaven, to rule newly founded Zhou
over China. Zhou kings thought that they would be Dynasty (1046–256
able to keep the mandate as long as they continued BC). He was the
to show virtue, or good qualities. brother of King Wu
During Zhou rule, the kings set up a social of Zhou, the first king
structure with three classes—the king and his family, of the ancient
noble families, and peasant families. Families of each Chinese Zhou
class were expected to show their virtues by offering
services to the other classes.
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ANCIENT CHINA MAY 11, 2016
DECLINE OF THE ZHOU
In time, the power of the Zhou kings weakened. cavalry, iron tools and weapons, plows pulled by
By 800 b.c., warlike nomads from the north and the animals, and money in the form of coins.
west had begun invading Zhou lands. In about 771 As the Zhou declined, rulers came up with new
b.c., the enemies attacked the Zhou capital of Hao. forms of government as a way to restore law and
They killed the Zhou king and took control of the order. As early as the 600s b.c., the kingdom of Chu
whole Wei River Valley. Because of this, the Zhou had replaced feudalism with a new kind of
moved their capital city east to the North China government. The Chu kings divided their kingdom
Plain. into counties. They selected people to run the
After the move, the Zhou dynasty was weakened counties based on their skill.
even more by a threat from within. Over time, the In 535 b.c., the king of Zheng, a kingdom in the
power of local nobles had grown. Many nobles began North China Plain, decided that virtue alone was
ruling their own lands, claiming independence. Some not enough to keep order. Instead, he ordered that
even called themselves kings. written laws be created to make sure people could
Those kings fought the Zhou and one another tell right from wrong. These were the first written
for control over China. During the last two hundred laws in China.
years of the dynasty, the fighting grew worse. For
this reason, this time—beginning in 403 b.c.—is
sometimes called the Warring Kingdoms Period or
the Warring States Period.
The decline of the Zhou dynasty was also a time
of cultural growth. The Zhou introduced the use of
Reading Check
MAIN IDEA AND
DETAILS: How did the
Zheng king try to
maintain order in his
kingdom?
Archaeologists carefully
excavate a carriage dating to
the Zhou dynasty.
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