Zhou dynasty

Zhou dynasty
周朝
Kingdom
c. 1046 BC–256 BC
Population concentration and boundaries of the Western Zhou dynasty (1050–771 BC) in China
Capital		Fenghao[lower-alpha 1] (1046-771 BC) Wangcheng[lower-alpha 2] (771-510 BC; 314–256 BC)[1] Chengzhou (510-314 BC)[1]
Languages		Old Chinese
Religion		Chinese folk religion, Ancestor worship, Heaven worship[2]
Government		Feudal monarchy
King
•	c. 1046–1043 BC	King Wu
•	781–771 BC	King You
•	770–720 BC	King Ping
•	314–256 BC	King Nan
History
•	Battle of Muye	c. 1046 BC
•	Gonghe Regency	841–828 BC
•	Relocation to Wangcheng	771 BC
•	Deposition of King Nan by Qin	256 BC
•	Fall of the last Zhou holdouts[3]	249 BC
Population
•	273 BC est.	30,000,000
•	230 BC est.	38,000,000
Currency		Mostly spade coins and knife coins
Preceded by Succeeded by Shang dynasty Qin dynasty
Today part of		China

Zhou dynasty
"Zhou" in ancient bronze script (top), seal script (middle), and regular (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese	周
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōu Gwoyeu Romatzyh Jou Wade–Giles Chou^1 IPA [ʈʂóu̯] Wu Romanization Tseu Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Zau^1 Yale Romanization Jāu Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chiu Tâi-lô Tsiu Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *tiw

The Zhou dynasty (Chinese: 周朝; pinyin: Zhōu cháo [ʈʂóu̯ ʈʂʰǎu̯]) was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang dynasty and preceded the Qin dynasty. Although the Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty, surnamed Ji (Chinese: 姬), lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as the Western Zhou.

This period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making. The dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved into its almost-modern form with the use of an archaic clerical script that emerged during the late Warring States period.

History

Foundation

Traditional myth

According to Chinese mythology, the Zhou lineage began when Jiang Yuan, a consort of the legendary Emperor Ku, miraculously conceived a child, Qi "the Abandoned One", after stepping into the divine footprint of Shangdi.^[4][5] Qi was a culture hero credited with surviving three abandonments by his mother and with greatly improving Xia agriculture,^[4] to the point where he was granted lordship over Tai and the surname Ji by his own Xia king and a later posthumous name, Houji "Lord of Millet", by the Tang of Shang. He even received sacrifice as a harvest god. The term Hòujì was probably an hereditary title attached to a lineage.

Qi's son, or rather that of the Hòujì, Buzhu is said to have abandoned his position as Agrarian Master (Chinese: 農師; pinyin: Nóngshī) in old age and either he or his son Ju abandoned agriculture entirely, living a nomadic life in the manner of the Xirong and Rongdi (see Hua–Yi distinction).^[6] Ju's son Liu,^[7] however, led his people to prosperity by restoring agriculture and settling them at a place called Bin,^{[lower-alpha 3]} which his descendants ruled for generations. Tai later led the clan from Bin to Zhou, an area in the Wei River valley of modern-day Qishan County.

The duke passed over his two elder sons Taibo and Zhongyong to favor Jili, a warrior who conquered several Xirong tribes as a vassal of the Shang kings Wu Yi and Wen Ding before being treacherously killed. Taibo and Zhongyong had supposedly already fled to the Yangtze delta, where they established the state of Wu among the tribes there. Jili's son Wen bribed his way out of imprisonment and moved the Zhou capital to Feng (within present-day Xi'an). Around 1046 BCE, Wen's son Wu and his ally Jiang Ziya led an army of 45,000 men and 300 chariots across the Yellow River and defeated King Zhou of Shang at the Battle of Muye, marking the beginning of the Zhou dynasty.^{[lower-alpha 4]} The Zhou enfeoffed a member of the defeated Shang royal family as the Duke of Song, which was held by descendants of the Shang royal family until its end. This practice was referred to as 二王三恪.

Culture

According to Nicholas Bodman, the Zhou appear to have spoken a language not basically different in vocabulary and syntax from that of the Shang. ^{[lower-alpha 5]} A recent study by David McCraw, using lexical statistics, reached the same conclusion.^[10] The Zhou emulated extensively Shang cultural practices, perhaps to legitimize their own rule,^[11] and became the successors to Shang culture.^[12] At the same time, the Zhou may also have been connected to the Xirong, a broadly defined cultural group to the west of the Shang, which the Shang regarded as tributaries.^[13] According to the historian Li Feng, the term "Rong" during the Western Zhou period was likely used to designate political and military adversaries rather than cultural and ethnic 'others.'^[12]

The proto-Zhou were first located in the Shaanxi-Shanxi highland, where they absorbed elements from the Guangshe culture and from the steppe dwellers. King Liu moved his people to the lower Fen Valley and to the western bank of the Yellow River, where they resumed agriculture. His son Qing Jie, led the Zhou to the upper valley of the Jing River. They stayed there until Dan Fu (or Tai Wang) moved again to the Wei Valley in order to avoid incursion by the Rongdi nomads. During this period, the Zhou mingled with the Qiang people, who provided them with a cultural inheritance from the Siwa and Anguo peoples and formed a political alliance with them. In all these stages, the advanced Shang bronze culture constantly imparted its influence on the Zhou. The Qi area was the region in which all these influences would come to fruition. The contact among the proto-Zhou, the native Shaanxi Longshan, the Qiang, and the northern steppe traditions, plus the tradition of the Shang produced the momentum for change and development. ^[14]

Western Zhou

States of the Western Zhou dynasty

King Wu maintained the old capital for ceremonial purposes but constructed a new one for his palace and administration nearby at Hao. Although Wu's early death left a young and inexperienced heir, the Duke of Zhou assisted his nephew King Cheng in consolidating royal power. Wary of the Duke of Zhou's increasing power, the "Three Guards", Zhou princes stationed on the eastern plain, rose in rebellion against his regency. Even though they garnered the support of independent-minded nobles, Shang partisans and several Dongyi tribes, the Duke of Zhou quelled the rebellion, and further expanded the Zhou kingdom into the east.^[15][16][17] To maintain Zhou authority over its greatly expanded territory and prevent other revolts, he set up the fengjian system.^[16] Furthermore, he countered Zhou's crisis of legitimacy by expounding the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven while accommodating important Shang rituals at Wangcheng and Chengzhou.^[18]

Over time, this decentralized system became strained as the familial relationships between the Zhou kings and the regional dynasties thinned over the generations. Peripheral territories developed local power and prestige on par with that of the Zhou.^[19] When King You demoted and exiled his Jiang queen in favor of the beautiful commoner Bao Si, the disgraced queen's father the Marquis of Shen joined with Zeng and the Quanrong barbarians to sack Hao in 771 BC. Some modern scholars have surmised that the sack of Haojing might have been connected to a Scythian raid from the Altai before their westward expansion.^[20] With King You dead, a conclave of nobles met at Shen and declared the Marquis's grandson King Ping. The capital was moved eastward to Chengzhou, marking the end of the "Western Zhou" (西周, p Xī Zhōu) and the beginning of the "Eastern Zhou" dynasty (東周, p Dōng Zhōu).

Eastern Zhou

The Eastern Zhou was characterized by an accelerating collapse of royal authority, although the king's ritual importance allowed over five more centuries of rule. The Confucian chronicle of the early years of this process led to its title of the "Spring and Autumn" period. The partition of Jin in the mid-5th century BC initiated a second phase, the "Warring States".^[19] In 403 BC, the Zhou court recognized Han, Zhao, and Wei as fully independent states; in 344 BC, the first – Duke Hui of Wei – claimed the royal title of king for himself. A series of states rose to prominence before each falling in turn, but Zhou was a minor player in these conflicts.

The last Zhou king is traditionally taken to be Nan, who was killed when Qin captured the capital Chengzhou in 256 BC. A "King Hui" was declared, but his splinter state was fully removed by 249 BC. Qin's unification of China concluded in 221 BC with Qin Shihuang's annexation of Qi.

The Eastern Zhou, however, is also remembered as the golden age of Chinese philosophy: the Hundred Schools of Thought which flourished as rival lords patronized itinerant shi scholars is led by the example of Qi's Jixia Academy. The Nine Schools of Thought which came to dominate the others were Confucianism (as interpreted by Mencius and others), Legalism, Taoism, Mohism, the utopian communalist Agriculturalism, two strains of Diplomatists, the sophistic Logicians, Sun-tzu's Militarists, and the Naturalists.^[21] Although only the first three of these went on to receive imperial patronage in later dynasties, doctrines from each influenced the others and Chinese society in sometimes unusual ways. The Mohists, for instance, found little interest in their praise of meritocracy but much acceptance for their mastery of siege warfare; much later, however, their arguments against nepotism were used in favor of establishing the imperial examination system.

Culture and society

Silk painting depicting a man riding a dragon, painting on silk, dated to 5th-3rd century BC, from Zidanku Tomb no. 1 in Changsha, Hunan Province

A lacquerware painting from the Jingmen Tomb (Chinese: 荊門楚墓; Pinyin: Jīngmén chǔ mù) of the State of Chu (704–223 BC), depicting men wearing precursors to Hanfu (i.e. traditional silk dress) and riding in a two-horsed chariot

Mandate of Heaven

A Western Zhou bronze gui vessel, c. 1000 BC

In the Chinese historical tradition, the Zhou defeated the Shang and oriented the Shang system of ancestor worship towards a universalized worship, away from the worship of Shangdi and to that of Tian or "heaven". They legitimized their rule by invoking the "Mandate of Heaven", the notion that the ruler (the "Son of Heaven") governed by divine right and that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the Mandate. Disasters and successful rebellions would thus show that the ruling family had lost this Mandate. The mandate asserted that Zhou moral superiority justified taking over Shang territories and that heaven had imposed a moral mandate on them to replace the Shang, whom they saw as evil men whose policies brought pain to the people through corruption.^[22]

The doctrine explained and justified the demise of the Xia and Shang dynasties and, at the same time, supported the legitimacy of present and future rulers. Before conquering Shang, Zhou was a state in Shaanxi. Gernet (1996:51) describes the Zhou state as a "city" which was in contact with the barbarian peoples of the western regions and more warlike than the Shang. The Zhou dynasty was founded by the Ji family and operated from four capitals throughout its history.^[23] Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, established a large imperial territory wherein states as far as Shandong acknowledged Zhou rule and took part in elite culture. The spread of Zhou bronzes, though, was concurrent with the continued use of Shang-style pottery in the distant regions, and these states were the last to secede during the late Western war. The mandate of heaven was based on rules. In return, the ruler was duty-bound to uphold heaven's principles and honor.^[24]

Feudalism

A Western Zhou ceremonial bronze of cooking-vessel form inscribed to record that the King of Zhou gave a fiefdom to Shi You, ordering that he inherit the title as well as the land and people living there

Western writers often describe the Zhou period as "feudal" because the Zhou's fēngjiàn (封建) system invites comparison with medieval rule in Europe.

There were many similarities between the decentralized systems. When the dynasty was established, the conquered land was divided into hereditary fiefs (諸侯, zhūhóu) that eventually became powerful in their own right. In matters of inheritance, the Zhou dynasty recognized only patrilineal primogeniture as legal.^[25][26] According to Tao (1934: 17–31), "the Tsung-fa or descent line system has the following characteristics: patrilineal descent, patrilineal succession, patriarchate, sib-exogamy, and primogeniture"^[27]

The system, also called "extensive stratified patrilineage", was defined by the anthropologist Kwang-chih Chang as "characterized by the fact that the eldest son of each generation formed the main of line descent and political authority, whereas the younger brothers were moved out to establish new lineages of lesser authority. The farther removed, the lesser the political authority". Ebrey defines the descent-line system as follows: "A great line (ta-tsung) is the line of eldest sons continuing indefinitely from a founding ancestor. A lesser line is the line of younger sons going back no more than five generations. Great lines and lesser lines continually spin off new lesser lines, founded by younger sons".

K.E. Brashier writes in his book "Ancestral Memory in Early China" about the tsung-fa system of patrilineal primogeniture: "The greater lineage, if it has survived, is the direct succession from father to eldest son and is not defined via the collateral shifts of the lesser lineages. In discussions that demarcate between trunk and collateral lines, the former is called a zong and the latter a zu, whereas the whole lineage is dubbed the shi. [...] On one hand every son who is not the eldest and hence not heir to the lineage territory has the potential of becoming a progenitor and fostering a new trunk lineage (Ideally he would strike out to cultivate new lineage territory). [...] According to the Zou commentary, the son of heaven divided land among his feudal lords, his feudal lords divided land among their dependent families and so forth down the pecking order to the officers who had their dependent kin and the commoners who "each had his apportioned relations and all had their graded precedence""^[28]

This type of unilineal descent-group later became the model of the Korean family through the influence of Neo-Confucianism, as Zhu Xi and others advocated its re-establishment in China.^[29]

Fēngjiàn system and bureaucracy

There were five peerage ranks below the royal ranks, in descending order with common English translations: gōng 公 "duke", hóu 侯 "marquis", bó 伯 "count", zǐ 子 "viscount", and nán 男 "baron".^[30] At times, a vigorous duke would take power from his nobles and centralize the state. Centralization became more necessary as the states began to war among themselves and decentralization encouraged more war. If a duke took power from his nobles, the state would have to be administered bureaucratically by appointed officials.

Despite these similarities, there are a number of important differences from medieval Europe. One obvious difference is that the Zhou ruled from walled cities rather than castles. Another was China's distinct class system, which lacked an organized clergy but saw the Shang Zi-clan yeomen become masters of ritual and ceremony known as Shi (士). When a dukedom was centralized, these people would find employment as government officials or officers. These hereditary classes were similar to Western knights in status and breeding, but like Western clergy were expected to be something of a scholar instead of a warrior. Being appointed, they could move from one state to another. Some would travel from state to state peddling schemes of administrative or military reform. Those who could not find employment would often end up teaching young men who aspired to official status. The most famous of these was Confucius, who taught a system of mutual duty between superiors and inferiors. In contrast, the Legalists had no time for Confucian virtue and advocated a system of strict laws and harsh punishments. The wars of the Warring States were finally ended by the most legalist state of all, Qin. When the Qin dynasty fell and was replaced by the Han dynasty, many Chinese were relieved to return to the more humane virtues of Confucius.

Agriculture

Zhou vase with glass inlays, 4th-3rd century BC, British Museum.

Agriculture in the Zhou dynasty was very intensive and, in many cases, directed by the government. All farming lands were owned by nobles, who then gave their land to their serfs, a situation similar to European feudalism. For example, a piece of land was divided into nine squares in the well-field system, with the grain from the middle square taken by the government and that of surrounding squares kept by individual farmers. This way, the government was able to store surplus food and distribute it in times of famine or bad harvest. Some important manufacturing sectors during this period included bronze smelting, which was integral to making weapons and farming tools. Again, these industries were dominated by the nobility who directed the production of such materials.

China's first projects of hydraulic engineering were initiated during the Zhou dynasty, ultimately as a means to aid agricultural irrigation. The chancellor of Wei, Sunshu Ao, who served King Zhuang of Chu, dammed a river to create an enormous irrigation reservoir in modern-day northern Anhui province. For this, Sunshu is credited as China's first hydraulic engineer. The later Wei statesman Ximen Bao, who served Marquis Wen of Wei (445-396 BC), was the first hydraulic engineer of China to have created a large irrigation canal system. As the main focus of his grandiose project, his canal work eventually diverted the waters of the entire Zhang River to a spot further up the Yellow River.

Military

The early Western Zhou supported a strong army, split into two major units: "the Six Armies of the west" and "the Eight Armies of Chengzhou". The armies campaigned in the northern Loess Plateau, modern Ningxia and the Yellow River floodplain. The military prowess of Zhou peaked during the 19th year of King Zhao's reign, when the six armies were wiped out along with King Zhao on a campaign around the Han River. Early Zhou kings were true commanders-in-chief. They were in constant wars with barbarians on behalf of the fiefs called guo, which at that time meant "statelet" or "principality".

A bronze figure of a charioteer from the Warring States era of the Zhou Dynasty, dated 4th to 3rd century BC

An embroidered silk gauze ritual garment from an Eastern-Zhou-era tomb at Mashan, Hubei province, China, 4th century BC

An Eastern-Zhou bronze sword excavated from Changsa, Hunan Province

A drinking cup carved from crystal, unearthed at Banshan, Hangzhou, Warring States period, Hangzhou Museum.

The Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, a set of bronze bianzhong percussion instruments from the tomb of the aforesaid marquis in Hubei province, China, dated 433 BC, Warring States period

King Zhao was famous for repeated campaigns in the Yangtze areas and died in his last action. Later kings' campaigns were less effective. King Li led 14 armies against barbarians in the south, but failed to achieve any victory. King Xuan fought the Quanrong nomads in vain. King You was killed by the Quanrong when Haojing was sacked. Although chariots had been introduced to China during the Shang dynasty from Central Asia, the Zhou period saw the first major use of chariots in battle.^[31][32] Recent archaeological finds demonstrate similarities between horse burials of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and Indo-European peoples in the west.^[33] Other possible cultural influences resulting from Indo-European contact in this period may include fighting styles, head-and-hoof tiruals, art motifs and myths.^[33]

Philosophy

During the Zhou dynasty, the origins of native Chinese philosophy developed, its initial stages beginning in the 6th century BC. The greatest Chinese philosophers, those who made the greatest impact on later generations of Chinese, were Confucius, founder of Confucianism, and Laozi, founder of Taoism. Other philosophers, theorists, and schools of thought in this era were Mozi, founder of Mohism; Mencius, a famous Confucian who expanded upon Confucius' legacy; Shang Yang and Han Fei, responsible for the development of ancient Chinese Legalism (the core philosophy of the Qin dynasty); and Xun Zi, who was arguably the center of ancient Chinese intellectual life during his time, even more so than iconic intellectual figures such as Mencius.^[34]

Li

Established during the Western period, the Li traditional Chinese: 禮; simplified Chinese: 礼; pinyin: lǐ) ritual system encoded an understanding of manners as an expression of the social hierarchy, ethics, and regulation concerning material life; the corresponding social practices became idealized within Confucian ideology.

The system was canonized in the Book of Rites, Zhouli, and Yili compendiums of the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), thus becoming the heart of the Chinese imperial ideology. While the system was initially a respected body of concrete regulations, the fragmentation of the Western Zhou period led the ritual to drift towards moralization and formalization in regard to:

• The five orders of Chinese nobility.
• Ancestral temples (size, legitimate number of pavilions)
• Ceremonial regulations (number of ritual vessels, musical instruments, people in the dancing troupe)

Kings

The rulers of the Zhou dynasty were titled Wang (王) like the Shang rulers before them. The position is normally translated into English as "king". In addition to these rulers, King Wu's immediate ancestors – Danfu, Jili, and Wen – are also referred to as "Kings of Zhou", despite having been nominal vassals of the Shang kings.

NB: Dates in Chinese history before the first year of the Gonghe Regency in 841 BC are contentious and vary by source. Those below are those published by Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and Edward L. Shaughnessy's The Absolute Chronology of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Personal name		Posthumous name		Reign period
發	Fa	周武王	King Wu of Zhou	1046–1043 BC 1045–1043 BC
誦	Song	周成王	King Cheng of Zhou	1042–1021 BC 1042/1035–1006 BC
釗	Zhao	周康王	King Kang of Zhou	1020–996 BC 1005/1003–978 BC
瑕	Xia	周昭王	King Zhao of Zhou	995–977 BC 977/975–957 BC
滿	Man	周穆王	King Mu of Zhou	976–922 BC 956–918 BC
繄扈	Yihu	周共王/周龔王	King Gong of Zhou	922–900 BC 917/915–900 BC
囏	Jian	周懿王	King Yi of Zhou	899–892 BC 899/897–873 BC
辟方	Pifang	周孝王	King Xiao of Zhou	891–886 BC 872?–866 BC
燮	Xie	周夷王	King Yi of Zhou	885–878 BC 865–858 BC
胡	Hu	周厲王/周剌王	King Li of Zhou	877–841 BC 857/853–842/828 BC
		共和	Gonghe Regency	841–828 BC
靜	Jing	周宣王	King Xuan of Zhou	827–782 BC
宮湦	Gongsheng	周幽王	King You of Zhou	781–771 BC
End of Western Zhou / Beginning of Eastern Zhou
宜臼	Yijiu	周平王	King Ping of Zhou	770–720 BC
林	Lin	周桓王	King Huan of Zhou	719–697 BC
佗	Tuo	周莊王	King Zhuang of Zhou	696–682 BC
胡齊	Huqi	周僖王	King Xi of Zhou	681–677 BC
閬	Lang	周惠王	King Hui of Zhou	676–652 BC
鄭	Zheng	周襄王	King Xiang of Zhou	651–619 BC
壬臣	Renchen	周頃王	King Qing of Zhou	618–613 BC
班	Ban	周匡王	King Kuang of Zhou	612–607 BC
瑜	Yu	周定王	King Ding of Zhou	606–586 BC
夷	Yi	周簡王	King Jian of Zhou	585–572 BC
泄心	Xiexin	周靈王	King Ling of Zhou	571–545 BC
貴	Gui	周景王	King Jing of Zhou	544–521 BC
猛	Meng	周悼王	King Dao of Zhou	520 BC
丐	Gai	周敬王	King Jing of Zhou	519–476 BC
仁	Ren	周元王	King Yuan of Zhou	475–469 BC
介	Jie	周貞定王	King Zhending of Zhou	468–442 BC
去疾	Quji	周哀王	King Ai of Zhou	441 BC
叔	Shu	周思王	King Si of Zhou	441 BC
嵬	Wei	周考王	King Kao of Zhou	440–426 BC
午	Wu	周威烈王	King Weilie of Zhou	425–402 BC
驕	Jiao	周安王	King An of Zhou	401–376 BC
喜	Xi	周烈王	King Lie of Zhou	375–369 BC
扁	Bian	周顯王	King Xian of Zhou	368–321 BC
定	Ding	周慎靚王	King Shenjing of Zhou	320–315 BC
延	Yan	周赧王	King Nan of Zhou	314–256 BC

Nobles of the Ji family proclaimed Duke Hui of Eastern Zhou as King Nan's successor after their capital, Chengzhou, fell to Qin forces in 256 BC. Ji Zhao, a son of King Nan, led a resistance against Qin for five years. The dukedom fell in 249 BC. The remaining Ji family ruled Yan and Wei until 209 BC.

Later tradition

Fittings in the form of tigers, Baoji, Shaanxi province, Middle Western Zhou dynasty, c. 900 BC, bronze

Claimed descendants

The Han dynasty bestowed the hereditary title 周子南君 upon the Zhou dynasty royal descendant Ji Jia 姬嘉 and his descendants.^[35] This practice was referred to as 二王三恪.

According to the New Book of Tang the Sui dynasty Emperors were patrilineally descended from the Zhou dynasty Kings via Ji Boqiao 姬伯僑, who was the son of Duke Wu of Jin.^[36] Ji Boqiao's family became known as the "sheep tongue family" 羊舌氏.

The Yang of Hongnong 弘農楊氏^{[37][38][39][40][41]} were asserted as ancestors by the Sui Emperors like the Longxi Li's were asserted as ancestors of the Tang Emperors.^[42] The Li of Zhaojun and the Lu of Fanyang hailed from Shandong and were related to the Liu clan which was also linked to the Yang of Hongnong and other clans of Guanlong.^[43] Duke Wu of Jin was claimed as the ancestors of the Hongnong Yang.^[44] The Yang of Hongnong, Jia of Hedong, Xiang of Henei, and Wang of Taiyuan from the Tang dynasty were claimed as ancestors by Song dynasty lineages.^[45] There were Dukedoms for the offspring of the royal families of the Zhou dynasty, Sui dynasty, and Tang dynasty in the Later Jin (Five Dynasties).^[46]

The Zhou dynasty King Ling's son Prince Jin is assumed by most to be the ancestor of the Taiyuan Wang lineage.^[47] The Longmen Wang were a cadet line of the Zhou dynasty descended Taiyuan Wang, and Wang Yan and his grandson Wang Tong hailed from his cadet line.^[48] Both Buddhist monks and scholars hailed from the Wang family of Taiyuan such as the monk Tanqian.^[49] The Wang family of Taiyuan included Wang Huan.^[50] The Taiyuan Wang family produced Wang Jun who served under Emperor Huai of Jin.^[51] A Fuzhou-based section of the Taiyuan Wang produced the Buddhist monk Baizhang.^[52] During the Tang dynasty the Li family of Zhaojun 赵郡李氏, the Cui family of Boling 博陵崔氏, the Cui family of Qinghe 清河崔氏, the Lu family of Fanyang 范陽盧氏, the Zheng family of Xingyang 荥阳郑氏, the Wang family of Taiyuan 太原王氏, and the Li family of Longxi 隴西李氏 were the seven noble families between whom marriage was banned by law.^[53] Moriya Mitsuo wrote a history of the Later Han-Tang period of the Taiyuan Wang. Among the strongest families was the Taiyuan Wang.^[54] The prohibition on marriage between the clans issued in 659 by the Gaozong Emperor was flouted by the seven families since a woman of the Boling Cui married a member of the Taiyuan Wang, giving birth to the poet Wang Wei.^[55] He was the son of Wang Chulian who in turn was the son of Wang Zhou.^[56] The marriages between the families were performed clandestinely after the prohibition was implemented on the seven families by Gaozong.^[57] Their status as "Seven Great surnames" became known during Gaozong's rule.^[58]

The Zhou dynasty Kings are the ancestors of the Zhou clan of Runan.

The Linghu of Dunhuang 敦煌令狐氏 were descended from King Wen of Zhou through his son Duke Gao of Bi 畢公高

The Zheng family of Xingyang 滎陽鄭氏 claim descent from the Zhou dynasty Kings via the rulers of the State of Zheng.

The Marquis of Xingyang rank was created for Zheng Xi.^[59] The Xingyang Zheng spawned Zheng Daozhao and Zheng Xi.^[60] Zheng Wanjun was a member of the Xingyang Zheng.^[61] The Xingyang Zheng spawned Zheng Yuzhong (Zheng Qiao).^[62] The Xingyang Zheng spawned Zheng Jiong.^[63]

The Zheng of Xingyang may have been miswritten in the records as the Zheng of Xingyang 荥阳郑氏.^[64][65]

東野家族大宗世系 Family Tree of the descendants of the Duke of Zhou in Chinese

The main line of the Duke of Zhou's descendants came from his firstborn son, the State of Lu ruler Bo Qin's third son Yu (魚) whose descendants adopted the surname Dongye (東野). The Duke of Zhou's offspring held the title of Wujing Boshi (五经博士; 五經博士; Wǔjīng Bóshì).^{[66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]}

Duke Huan of Lu's son through Qingfu (慶父) was the ancestor of Mencius. He was descended from Duke Yang of the State of Lu 魯煬公 Duke Yang was the son of Bo Qin, who was the son of the Duke of Zhou. The genealogy is found in the Mencius family tree (孟子世家大宗世系).^[77][78][79] Mencius's descendants were awarded the Wujing Boshi title.^[66]

One of the Duke of Zhou's 72 generation descendants family tree was examined and commented on by Song Lian.^[80]

Astrology

Zhou is represented by two stars, Eta Capricorni (周一 Zhōu yī, "the First Star of Zhou") and 21 Capricorni (周二 Zhōu èr, "the Second Star of Zhou"), in "Twelve States" asterism.^[81] Zhou is also represented by the star Beta Serpentis in asterism "Right Wall", Heavenly Market enclosure (see Chinese constellation).^[82]

See also

• Family tree of the Zhou dynasty
• Four occupations
• Historical capitals of China
• Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng

Notes

1. Fenghao is the modern name for the twin city formed by the Western Zhou capitals of Haojing and Fēngjīng.
2. The exact location of Wangcheng and its relation to Chengzhou is disputed. According to Xu Zhaofeng, "Chengzhou" and "Wangcheng" were originally synonymous and used to name the same capital city from 771 to 510 BC. "The creation of a distinction between Wangcheng and Chengzhou probably occurred during the reign of King Jing", under whom a new capital "Chengzhou" was built to the east of the old city "Wangcheng". Nevertheless, the new Chengzhou was still sometimes called Wangcheng and vice versa, adding to the confusion.^[1]
3. The exact location of Bin remains obscure, but it may have been close to Linfen on the Fen River in present-day Shanxi.^[8][9]
4. Sima Qian was only able to establish historical dates after the time of the Gonghe Regency. Earlier dates, like that of 1046 BC for the Battle of Muye, are given in this article according to the official PRC Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project, but they remain contentious. Various historians have offered dates for the battle ranging between 1122 and 1027 BC.
5. Bodman (1980), p. 41: "Moreover, Shang dynasty Chinese at least in its syntax and lexicon seems not to differ basically from that of the Zhou dynasty whose language is amply attested in inscriptions on bronze vessels and which was transmitted in the early classical literature."

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Works cited

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Further reading

• Fong, Wen, ed. (1980), The great bronze age of China: an exhibition from the People's Republic of China, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ISBN 978-0-87099-226-1.
• Lee, Yuan-Yuan; Shen, Sinyan (1999), Chinese Musical Instruments, Chinese Music Monograph Series, Chinese Music Society of North America Press, ISBN 978-1-880464-03-8.
• 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.
• Shen, Sinyan (1987), "Acoustics of Ancient Chinese Bells", Scientific American, 256 (4): 94, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0487-104.
• Sun, Yan (2006), "Cultural and Political Control in North China: Style and Use of the Bronzes of Yan at Liulihe during the Early Western Zhou", in Mair, Victor H., Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, pp. 215–237, ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4.
• Wagner, Donald B. (1999), "The Earliest Use of Iron in China", in Young, S. M. M.; Pollard, A. M.; Budd, P.; et al., Metals in Antiquity, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 1–9, ISBN 978-1-84171-008-2.

External links

• Chinese Text Project, Rulers of the Zhou period – with links to their occurrences in pre-Qin and Han texts.