The local lords were increasingly by-passed , with officials of central government directly organizing the collection of taxes from the peasants. Moreover, the leading states began to divide their territories into provinces and districts , headed by officials appointed by the central government. This further restricted the power of the local aristocracies. To oversee these changes, the princes were increasingly aided by ministers of ability and long experience. They, and officials in general, came to form a new element within society — educated , professional civil-servants, appointed to their tasks on the basis of their ability and loyalty to the prince rather than on aristocratic birth.
These were the forebears of the scholar-officials belonging to the new gentry class, which would play such a key role in later Chinese history.
The measures taken by the great minister Shang Yang to strengthen the state of Qin are a good illustration of these developments. As we have noted, continuities between the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods mean that, in many respects, they should be treated as a single phase of the history of China: the later, or Eastern , Zhou period, as it is traditionally called.
As this period wore on, the princes and their ministers realized that military and political power rested upon a sound economic base.
They therefore took steps to develop trade and industry within their states. Metal coins were first introduced in ancient China at this time at about the same time as they were in the Middle East.
This was done to facilitate the collection of taxes; however, it would also have helped stimulate trade. The first large-scale irrigation projects were begun, to bring more land under cultivation and improve agricultural production. These often required the digging of canals, which would have greatly benefited trade as carrying goods by water was always much cheaper than by land until the coming of railways.
Iron tools gradually became more common in agriculture, and enabled it to become increasingly productive. Chinese iron-workers began using casting technologies from c. The casting of molten iron into moulds, requiring the control of very high temperatures, was not matched in the West for centuries to come. Foundries were large-scale industrial units, as were salt and coal mines. The introduction of cast-iron agricultural tools greatly increased the productivity of the land, and acted as a further stimulus to population growth.
Towns and cities increased in both size and number, though since buildings were made largely of wood very little has survived from this period. The density of populations within the walls of these towns was much higher than in Shang times. All these developments stimulated social mobility. In earlier Zhou times, peasants were serfs, tied to the land and subject to the authority of their local lord. During the Warring States period, more and more peasants were able to buy and sell their land , with the result that farms became more productive.
New towns sprung up around markets. The merchant class was growing as the economy expanded. Some merchants amassed large fortunes and were able to invest their wealth in land, so joining the landowning class.
Chinese society was becoming much more complex and more fluid. Different social classes were growing up between the peasants, on the one hand, and the aristocracy, on the other. And as we have seen above the increasing centralization of state power in the hands of princes and their officials opened the way to high office and, with it, great wealth for men of more humble backgrounds, and the growth of bureaucracy began the rise of a key new class in ancient Chinese society, the gentry.
This period witnessed a general advance in education, stimulated by the greatly increased demand for highly literate officials. The tomb of Xi, a civil servant of the state of Qin , has revealed a mass of written documents, showing the extent to which law, diplomacy and administration now depended upon a literate class of bureaucrats. Not unconnected to this, during the Eastern Zhou period Chinese philosophy developed, its initial stages beginning in the 6th century BCE.
The Eastern Zhou period was a time of change and uncertainty. The old order was vanishing — what would replace it? It was as a time of frequent warfare and violence, but also of economic expansion, increased trade, towns and cities growing, and the rise of new social classes such as merchants and government officials.
Confidence in traditional beliefs and practices was being undermined. It is no surprise that these times of change should bring forward teachers who sought to give guidance as to how people should behave and how society should operate.
These teachers usually belonged to the well-educated gentry class, which was producing the growing number of government officials and which was therefore now gaining increasing prominence. Members of this class often moved around from state to state, offering their services to different princes.
Likewise, a number of teachers arose and also travelled from court to court, offering advice to rulers and ministers, but also teaching and gathering disciples.
The greatest Chinese philosophers were Confucius BCE , founder of Confucianism, and Laozi slightly earlier in the 6th century , the founder of Daoism. Other philosophers, theorists, and schools of thought in this era were founded by Mozi BCE, the founder of Mohism and Shang Yang BCE and Han Fei BCE , responsible for the development of Legalism , a school of thought in ancient China which would later be immensely influential.
Other famous philosophers were the Confucian thinkers Mencius and Xunzi A portrait of Confucius, by the Tang dynasty artist Wu Daozi — This flowering of thought in Ancient China in mid- to late-Zhou times had a profound effect on all later Chinese history. One of the symbolic changes which took place during the Warring States period was that the rulers of the surviving states did not even bother to acknowledge the Zhou king as their superior.
They declaring themselves to be independent kings, ruling in their own right. The Zhou dynasty itself came to an end in BCE, when one of these kingdoms, the aggressive kingdom of Qin , invaded Zhou territory, occupied the Zhou capital and deposed the Zhou king who died shortly afterwards.
Qin then annexed the rump of territory still under Zhou control. The late Zhou world was divided between a core area and a surrounding and expanding peripheral area.
States outside the core area were viewed as, at best semi-barbarous. Inside the core area, states were subject to factionalism and splintering, and new states arose on the ruins of old.
It was the states in the frontier zones outside the core area which were able to expand their territories, however. Barbarous though they may have appeared to the civilized inhabitants of the core states, it was they which had become dominant by the Warring States period.
Southern states , beyond the pale of the early Zhou sphere, were gradually drawn into the Zhou state system in later Zhou times, as the older Zhou states of northern China reached out for allies in their constant struggles with one another.
Some of the southern states, especially the huge kingdom of Chu , in the middle Yangtze basin, Wu and Yue in lower Yangtze, and Shu of Sichuan, became amongst the most powerful of the states. It was none of these, however, which eventually triumphed over all the others. This state was the kingdom of Qin.
His reign marked the transition to a new phase in Chinese history. The evolution of state institutions in Ancient China. The economy of Ancient China. He was atrocious to his people and doted on his imperial concubine, Daji. All he did caused great rage amongst his people. The chief of the Zhou Tribe,Wenwang thought it was the right time to attack the Shang and entrusted his son Ji Fa to fulfill his last wish. After Wenwang died, his son Ji Fa Wuwang succeeded him. He made full preparations for the war and killed King Zhou.
Instead, rulers were expected to be good and just in order to keep the Mandate. The Zhou claimed that their rule was justified by the Mandate of Heaven. In other words, the Zhou believed that the Shang kings had become immoral with their excessive drinking, luxuriant living, and cruelty, and so had lost their mandate. The need for the Zhou to create a history of a unified China is also why some scholars think the Xia Dynasty may have been an invention of the Zhou.
The Zhou needed to erase the various small states of prehistoric China from history, and replace them with the monocratic Xia Dynasty in order for their Mandate of Heaven to seem valid i. However, the Mandate of Heaven philosophy carried on throughout ancient China. Under the initial period of the Zhou Dynasty called the Western Zhou period , a number of innovations were made, rulers were legitimized under the Mandate of Heaven, a feudal system developed, and new forms of irrigation allowed the population to expand.
The first period of Zhou rule, during which the Zhou held undisputed power over China, is known as the Western Zhou period. This period ended when the capital was moved eastward. China created a substantial amount of literature during the Zhou Dynasty. Books dedicated to songs and ceremonial rites were also created. While many of these writings have been destroyed over time, their lasting impression on history is evidence of the strength of Zhou culture.
Like other river valley civilizations of the time, the people under the Zhou Dynasty followed patriarchal roles. Men chose which children would be educated and whom their daughters were married.
The household usually consisted of the head male, his wife, his sons and unmarried daughters. The feudal system in China was structurally similar to ones that followed, such as pre-imperial Macedon, Europe, and Japan. Delegating regional control in this way allowed the Zhou to maintain control over a massive land area.
Under this feudal fengjian system, land could be passed down within families, or broken up further and granted to more people. Most importantly, the peasants who farmed the land were controlled by the feudal system.
Slavery had been common during the Shang Dynasty, but this decreased and finally disappeared under the Zhou Dynasty, as social status became more fluid and transitory.
When the Duke of Zhou stepped down, China was united and at peace, leading to years of prosperity. But this only lasted for about seventy-five years. Over time, the central power of the Zhou Dynasty slowly weakened, and the lords of the fiefs originally bestowed by the Zhou came to equal the kings in wealth and influence.
They began to actively compete with them for power, and the fiefs gained independence as individual states. The Zhou capital was sacked by the barbarians, and with this the Western Zhou period ended. Under the Zhou Dynasty, many art forms expanded and became more detailed, including bronze, bronze inscriptions, painting, and lacquerware.
Chinese script cast onto bronzeware, such as bells and cauldrons, carried over from the Shang Dynasty into the Zhou; it showed continued changes in style over time, and by region. Under the Zhou, expansion of this form of writing continued, with the inclusion of patrons and ancestors.
Example of Bronze Inscription: This example of bronze inscription was cast on the Song ding, ca. Other improvements to bronze objects under the Eastern Zhou included greater attention to detail and aesthetics. The casting process itself was improved by a new technique, called the lost wax method of production. From the Western Zhou Dynasty, dated c. The written inscription of 11 ancient Chinese characters on the bronze vessel states its use and ownership by Zhou royalty.
Ceramic and Jade art continued from the Shang Dynasty, and was improved and refined, especially during the Warring States Period. Very few paintings from the Zhou have survived, however written descriptions of the works have remained. Representations of the real world, in the form of paintings of figures, portraits, and historical scenes, were common during the time.
This was a new development. Painting was also done on pottery, tomb walls, and on silk. Example of Silk Painting: This example of silk painting shows a man riding a dragon, and has been dated to the 5th-3rd century BCE. Lacquerware was a technique through which objects were decoratively covered by a wood finish and cured to a hard, durable finish. The lacquer itself might also be inlaid or carved. The 13 Dynasties that Ruled China in Order 1. Xia Dynasty c. Shang Dynasty c.
Qin Dynasty BC 5. Six Dynasties Period 7. Sui Dynasty 8. Tang Dynasty 9.
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