Western Zhou

The Western Zhou (Chinese: 西周; pinyin: Xīzhōu; c. 1046 BC^[2] – 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history, corresponding to approximately the first half of the Zhou dynasty, preceding the Eastern Zhou. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when Quanrong pastoralists sacked its capital Haojing and killed King You of Zhou in 771 BC.

The Western Zhou early state^[a] was ascendant for about 75 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 court was driven out of the Wei River valley; afterwards real power was in the hands of the king's nominal vassals. "Western" describes the geographical situation of the Zhou royal capitals, clustered near present-day Xi'an.

Sources

The Western Zhou are known from archaeological finds, including substantial inscriptions, mostly on bronze ritual vessels. In contrast to earlier periods, this direct evidence can be usefully compared with texts transmitted through the manuscript tradition. These include some Confucian classics, the oldest parts of which are thought to date from this period. Texts from the Warring States period and Han dynasty provide fuller accounts, though further removed from the original events.^[3]

Archaeology

Zhou ritual bronzes have been collected since the Song dynasty and are now scattered in collections around the world. Scientific excavations began in the core Wei River valley and the Luoyang areas in the 1930s and expanded to a broader area from the 1980s.^[4] Bronze vessels are a key marker of Western Zhou sites, including buildings, workshops, city walls and burials.^[5] Elite burials usually contain sets of vessels, which can be dated using known variations in styles, as well the paleography and content of inscriptions.^[6] Hundreds of hoards of bronzes have been found in Shaanxi, dating from the fall of the western capital in 771 BC. A hoard typically contains treasured vessels accumulated by a family over three centuries, carefully buried to hide them from the invaders.^[7]

Inscriptions

Received texts

History

The Lai (or Qiu) pan, from the reign of King Xuan, bears an inscription listing all the kings from King Wen to King Li.^[8]^[9]

The Han historian Sima Qian felt unable to extend his chronological table beyond 841 BC, the first year of the Gonghe Regency, and there is still no accepted chronology of Chinese history before that point.^[10]^[11] The Cambridge History of Ancient China used dates determined by Edward L. Shaughnessy from the "current text" Bamboo Annals and bronze inscriptions.^[12] The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project produced a schedule of dates based on received texts, bronze inscriptions, radiocarbon dating and astronomical events.^[13]

Western Zhou kings
Period	Ruler name		Reign (all dates BC)
Period	Posthumous	Personal	Shaughnessy^[14]	XSZ Project^[15]
Pre-conquest	King Wen	Chang (昌)	1099–1050^[b]
Pre-conquest	King Wu	Fa (發)	1049–1043^[b]	1046–1043
Early	King Wu	Fa (發)	1049–1043^[b]	1046–1043
	King Cheng	Song (誦)	1042–1006	1042–1021
	King Kang	Zhao (釗)	1005–978	1020–996
	King Zhao †	Xia (瑕)	977–957	995–977
Middle	King Mu	Man (滿)	956–918	976–922
	King Gong	Yihu (繄扈)	917–900	922–900
	King Yih	Jian (囏)	899–873	899–892
	King Xiao	Pifang (辟方)	872–866	891–886
	King Yi	Xie (燮)	865–858	885–878
Late	King Li	Hu (胡)	857–842	877–841
	Gonghe Regency		841–828	841–828
	King Xuan	Jing (靜)	827–782	827–782
	King You †	Gongnie (宮涅)	782–771	781–771

Conquest of the Shang

The Shi Qiang pan, from the reign of King Gong, bears an inscription with a brief account from King Wen to the time of the vessel.^[17]

The origins of the Zhou are obscure. The archaeology of pre-conquest Wei valley is varied and complex, but no material culture comparable to the dynastic Zhou has been found.^[18] Archaeologists searching for the predynastic Zhou have focussed on the Qishan area, which is mentioned in early texts and was a key ritual centre of the Western Zhou. Two different pottery types are found in this area, and archaeologists differ on whether one or the other group of people, or a mixture of the two, produced the Zhou.^[19] It is likely that several groups from across Shaanxi banded together to conquer the Shang.^[20]

The conquest is reflected in the material record by the sudden appearance throughout the Wei River basin of bronze vessels and burials like those of the Shang. The Zhou had evidently acquired skilled craftsmen and abundant resources.^[21] They also expanded the Late Shang practice of inscribing bronze vessels to create lengthy texts recording the accomplishments of their owners and honours bestowed on them by the king. The adoption of Shang features suggests an effort to legitimate Zhou rule.^[22]

The Shi Qiang pan, part of a family cache found in western Shaanxi, was cast in the reign of King Gong by the latest in a family of scribes descended from a scribe brought to Shaanxi after the conquest.^[23] The lengthy inscription, summarizing the history of the Zhou and that of the Wei (zh 微) family, begins:^[24]

Accordant with antiquity was King Wen! (He) first brought harmony to government. The Lord on High sent down fine virtue and great security. Extending to the high and low, he joined the ten thousand states.
Capturing and controlling was King Wu! (He) proceeded and campaigned through the four quarters, piercing Yin [= Shang] and governing its people. Eternally unfearful of the Di (Distant Ones), oh, he attacked the Yi minions.

Longer accounts are found in later sources. Both the Historical Records and the Bamboo Annals describe campaigns by King Wen in southern Shanxi.^[25] On King Wen's death, his oldest son became King Wu and expanded the campaigns to the Shang, defeating them in the decisive Battle of Muye, which is also described in the "Great brightness" song of the Classic of Poetry.^[26] According to the Yi Zhou Shu, the Zhou army spent two months in the area mopping up resistance before returning to the Wei valley. King Wen left two or three of his brothers (depending on the source) to oversee the former Shang domains, nominally ruled by Wu Geng, the son of the last Shang king.^[27]

Civil war

Bronze pot, 3rd Year of King Yih

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 Ji Dan 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 Wu Geng and other regional rulers and Shang remnants in the rebellion of the Three Guards. The Duke of Zhou stamped out this rebellion and conquered more territory to bring other people under Zhou rule.^[28]^[29]

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.^[30] With a feudal fengjian system, royal relatives and generals were given fiefs in the east,^[28] 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 and that of his son King Kang of Zhou seem to have been peaceful and prosperous.

Further kings

The fourth king, King Zhao of Zhou 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 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.^[31]

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)) 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.

Western Zhou jade figure
Bronze helmet, Zhou dynasty
An ancient sword dating back to the Western Zhou
Western Zhou daggers

Fall of the Western Zhou

The conflicts with nomadic tribes from the north and the northwest, variously known as the Xianyun, Guifang, or various "Rong" tribes, such as the Xirong, Shanrong or Quanrong, intensified towards the end of the Western Zhou period.^[32] These tribes are recorded as harassing Zhou territory, but at the time the Zhou were expanding northwards, encroaching on their traditional lands, especially into the Wei River valley. Archaeologically, the Zhou expanded to the north and the northwest at the expense of the Siwa culture.^[32]

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. The Quanrong put an end to the Western Zhou in 771 BC, sacking the Zhou capital of Haojing and killing the last Western Zhou king You.^[32] Thereafter the task of dealing with the northern tribes was left to their vassal, the Qin state.^[32]

His killing resulted to beginning wars between local states which continued until Qin unification of China 500 years later.^[c] Some scholars have surmised that the sack of Haojing might have been connected to a Scythian raid from the Altai before their westward expansion.^[33] 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.

Government

Society

Arts

Notes

^ "...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'."^[2]
^ ^a ^b Shaughnessy dates the Zhou conquest of the Shang to 1045 BC. Earlier dates represent the pre-dynastic Zhou.^[16]
^ "...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"^[2]

References

Citations

^ Li (2006), pp. 42, 59, 302, 320, 333.
^ ^a ^b ^c Li (2013), p. 6.
^ Li (2006), pp. 87–88.
^ Li (2018), p. 88.
^ Rawson (1999), p. 352.
^ Rawson (1999), pp. 358–360.
^ Rawson (1999), pp. 371, 373.
^ Li (2018), p. 94.
^ Falkenhausen (2006b), pp. 278–279.
^ Shaughnessy (1999a), p. 21.
^ Lee (2002), pp. 16–17.
^ Shaughnessy (1999a), pp. 22–23.
^ Lee (2002), pp. 17–18.
^ Shaughnessy (1999a), p. 25.
^ Lee (2002), p. 18.
^ Shaughnessy (1999a), p. 23.
^ Shaughnessy (1992), pp. 1–4.
^ Rawson (1999), pp. 375–376.
^ Rawson (1999), pp. 376–381.
^ Rawson (1999), p. 382.
^ Rawson (1999), p. 385.
^ Rawson (1999), p. 387.
^ Shaughnessy (1992), p. 1.
^ Shaughnessy (1992), p. 3.
^ Shaughnessy (1999b), p. 307.
^ Shaughnessy (1999b), p. 309.
^ Shaughnessy (1999b), p. 310.
^ ^a ^b Chinn (2007), p. 43.
^ Hucker (1978), p. 32.
^ Hucker (1978), p. 33.
^ Hucker (1978), p. 37.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Tse, Wicky W. K. (27 June 2018). The Collapse of China's Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 CE: The Northwest Borderlands and the Edge of Empire. Routledge. p. 45-46, 63 note 40. ISBN 978-1-315-53231-8.
^ "The Steppe: Scythian successes". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 31 December 2014.

Works cited

Chinn, Ann-ping (2007), The Authentic Confucius, Scribner, ISBN 978-0-7432-4618-7.
Falkenhausen, Lothar von (2006a), Chinese Society in the Age of Confucius (1000–250 BC): The Archaeological Evidence, Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California Press, ISBN 978-1-931745-31-4.
——— (2006b), "The Inscribed Bronzes from Yangjiacun: New Evidence on Social Structure and Historical Consciousness in Late Western Zhou China (c.800 BC)" (PDF), Proceedings of the British Academy, 139: 239–295.
Hucker, Charles O. (1978), China to 1850: A short history, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-0958-0.
Kern, Martin (2009), "Bronze inscriptions, the Shijing and the Shangshu: The evolution of the ancestral sacrifice during the Western Zhou", in Lagerwey, John; Kalinowski, Marc (eds.), Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD), Brill, pp. 143–200, doi:10.1163/ej.9789004168350.i-1312.23, ISBN 978-90-04-17208-1.
Lee, Yun Kuen (2002), "Building the chronology of early Chinese history", Asian Perspectives, 41 (1): 15–42, doi:10.1353/asi.2002.0006, hdl:10125/17161, S2CID 67818363.
Li, Feng (2006), Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045–771 BC, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-85272-2.
——— (2013), Early China: A Social and Cultural History, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-89552-1.
——— (2018), "The Western Zhou state", in Goldin, Paul R. (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Early Chinese History, Routledge, pp. 84–107, ISBN 978-1-138-77591-6.
Nylan, Michael (2001), The Five "Confucian" Classics, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-08185-5.
Rawson, Jessica (1999), "Western Zhou archaeology", in Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 352–449, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.
Shaughnessy, Edward L. (1992), Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-07028-8.
——— (1999a), "Calendar and Chronology", in Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 19–29, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.
——— (1999b), "Western Zhou history", in Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 292–351, ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.
——— (2001–2002), "New sources of Western Zhou history: recent discoveries of inscribed bronze vessels", Early China, 26/27: 73–98.
——— (2017), "Newest Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels, 2000–2010", in Shaughnessy, Edward L. (ed.), Imprints of Kinship: Studies of Recently Discovered Bronze Inscriptions from Ancient China, Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, pp. 133–188.