Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history. It was from 1122 B.C. to 256 B.C. Zhou Dynasty is divided into sub periods. First is the Western Zh
ou, which occurs from the time of their victory over the Shang until about 771 B.C. The king during Western Zhou was killed but his son was saved and it moved to east where a new capital was formed in Loyang. And this bring the period known as the Eastern Zhou. The Eastern Zhou is divided into two time periods. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, occurred from 770 B.C. to 476 B.C. and 475 B.C. to 221 B.C. Warring States were considered the classical age. The time of the great philosophers.Reason for Take-over
Zhou were able to takeover the Shang because the Shang people changed like weaker. Also, the Zhou also believed in the Mandate of Heavens which is that Heaven placed the 'mandate' on a family that it thought was capable of ruling. The Zhou used this idea to show that they can overthrow the Shang. The Zhou knew that Shang were not capable of ruling the land anymore and the Zhou were the ones who actually deserves the Mandate of Heaven.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Dynasty
Leaders of the Civilization
There were around 40 Zhou Dynasty Kings. Personal name is Ji Fa or King Wu of Zhou and also known as Zhou Wuwang, was the first king to control the Zhou dynasty. After he became the king, he tried to executed his father, King Wen of Zhou’s dying wish, to defeat the Shang Dynasty. He used lots of government officials, which resulted in the Zhou government being more powerful than the Shang government. He attack at the Shang kingdom and the Shang forces were completely destroyed. He established the Zhou dynasty in 1046 B.C. and ruled until 1043 B.C.A leader from another civilization outside of China, but during the same time period.
Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire from 559 B.C. to 529 B.C. He conquered most of South West Asia and much of Central Asia from Egypt and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east.
Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire from 559 B.C. to 529 B.C. He conquered most of South West Asia and much of Central Asia from Egypt and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east.Accomplishments
Zhou adopted much of Shang life style, writing system, rituals, and admin
istration techniques.
istration techniques.The Zhou took Shang families to the new place and let Shang artisans to build with their knowledge. For the writing part, people in different provinces spoke many different language speech so communicating with each other was quite hard. However, the Zhou used pictures or characters as the words . So, even though a word might have many different pronunciations in different language speeches, people in the whole country can write in same way. There are three systems that Zhou created. Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism developed during this time. However, Legalism had a most effect as it was the philosophy that the 'Qin', the next dynasty used as the basis of their ruling system. Legalism is a system that makes the people follow the right rules otherwise they will get killed.
Reason for Fall
Once the royal line was broken, the Zhou grew weaker. The Zhou kings ruled only by name, and they had no real power. All the power was actually with the powerful nobles. During the 4th century B.C., the state of Qin. Leading legalist, the Qin kingdom reformed its administration, economy, and military and became stronger as the Zhou got weaker and eventually fall in 256 B.C. Soon, the Qin had conquered the seven other warring states in Zhou.
