Trevor Nakata

Period 5

4/28/2011

Beware of the Zhou Dynasty

A civilization locked in war, a place where freedom is limited under rules of kings and

queens, years spent working and then it's taken away. This is not a place where people should

go. This is the Zhou Dynasty. The many battles that were fought, the life of servitude, and

where the government wasn't your friend are a few reasons why people should avoid the Zhou

Dynasty.

The Zhou Dynasty was era that always had turbulence either from attacking invaders or

civil wars. The Zhou Dynasty was split into two periods, the eastern and western Zhou. From

there the eastern Zhou was split even smaller sub periods waged in war, the Spring and Autumn

period and the Warring States Period. During the western Zhou period, the Zhou dynasty was

frequently in conflict with wondering nomadic tribes. At one point, in 771B.C. a nomadic tribe

was able to kill the reigning emperor. This incident marked the end of the western Zhou Dynasty

period and was the start of the Eastern Zhou dynasty Period.

A new capital was formed beginning this new period, with the government that was

already weak due to the death of the emperor. This first part of the new Zhou dynasty is known

now as the Spring and Autumn Period. The second sub period was the Warring States Period.

During both of these sub periods, the dynasty was torn apart by constant civil warfare between

the separate lords and provinces. The small provinces were quickly conquered and only the large

provinces survived. Records show that during the spring and autumn period, there were over

480 wars, fifty-two states were conquered and thirty six kings were killed. During the warring

states period only seven great cities remained. The Qi, the Chu, the Yan, the Han, the Zhao, the

Wei, and the Qin were the only provinces to survive the Spring and Autumn Period and were the

six states to compete for total dominance. In the end though, the Qin won creating the Qin

Dynasty.

Life in The Zhou Dynasty was hard. People who lived in this dynasty always had to

serve other people and you really didn't have a say on what happens. Only the emperor had

freedom to do whatever he wanted to do. Everyone had to sever the emperor and was not to

question any of his demands or actions. Under the king were his trusted nobles which were

given land to rule over. The land was then given to commoners for work. Large fractions of the

earnings were given to the ruling noble who then gave the emperor fractions of the total gain.

This is known as a feudal system. This system is so that the commoners work and the higher ups

get paid because they own the land.

The feudal system built to rule the dynasty led to the overall fall of the dynasty. The

government started to become unjust with all the power that they had obtained by having control

of the land. One display of the emperor unjustly using his power was the actions of emperor

Youwang. The emperor would light the warning fire saying an attack was imminent. Because of

this his subjects would quickly come to the aid of the emperor only to find that there was no

attack. The subjects left the king and went back to work. However the next time the king lit the

fire was when an attack was imminent yet hardly anyone came to the emperor’s aid. Due to this

the emperors forces were quickly outran and destroyed.

Even though emperor Youwang was cruel and some people were glad that he died, his

death caused the emperor to lose a lot of power over the entire dynasty. The Zhou people

believed in the Mandate of Heaven, or the right to rule by the will of heaven. The loss of battles

shows that the Mandate of Heaven was loss by that line of emperors. This belief caused many of

the provinces to riot and civil war breakout. The government now stripped o it's power was now

unable to help anyone from the chaos of war. The government made you almost like slaves

when it was strong and when chaos struck, it just abandoned you, letting you fend for yourself

The Zhou dynasty had a few contributions to the present day and society. Some of these

contributions were in philosophy, medicine, and in crafts. During the war periods of the Zhou

dynasty many philosophers came. The most famous of these philosophers were Confucius who

wrote The Analect and Lao Zi who wrote A Book of Tao. The 'Four Diagnostic Method' was

created by Doctor Bian Que during this time period, which is still used today to diagnose

patients. The contribution in crafts was being one the first civilizations in making bronze items.

Though The Dynasty did help to contribute to modern day, the contributions were minor and

wouldn't be worth risking your life just to visit.

The Zhou Dynasty had very few contributions to the world and was terribly ruled during

the time. Even though it was the longest lasting dynasty in China, the dynasty was too spread

out and order was lost causing many civil wars. Unless you think, warring chaos, a life of

servitude, and a cruel government, is good, people should stay away from the Zhou dynasty.