The Zhou and The Qin Dynasty
3 min readThe Zhou Dynasty(1046B.C.-256B.C.)
The Zhou Dynasty reigned for more than 8o0 years with 37 kings, the longest period of all Chinese dynasties. The Zhou Dynasty falls into several sub-periods: the Western Zhou, the Eastern Zhou which is further divided into the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C.-476 B.C)and the Warring States Period(475 B.C.-256B.C.)
The Kings Wen and Wu, the founders of the Zhou Dynasty, were regarded as the ideal monarchs by the Confucians for they reined with morality, humanity and righteousness. The Zhou Dynasty was a turning point in Chinese history for it evolved into the feudal system, and witnessed the territorial expansion, economic prosperity and cultural flourishing.
The Zhou Dynasty was characterized by great intellectual achievements in terms of the rise of Confucianism, Daoism and the development of Chinese philosophy. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, and Laozi, the founder of Daoism together with other philosophers and theorists such as Mencius, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, Xunzi etc., made unprecedentedly huge impact on Chinese culture.
The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are famous for the cultural prosperity with “Hundred Schools of Thought”. During this era, many poets voiced their opinions of criticism and emotions, many of which were preserved in the Book of Poetry, the first important work of literature in Chinese history.
The concept of the ruler as the “Son of Heaven”originated during the Zhou period and the concept of the “mandate of heaven”gained the popularity. It was believed that the emperor ruled by divine right and his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate, and heaven expresses disapproval of an evil rulers through natural disasters suchas earthquakes, floods and plagues and through rebellions.
The Qin Dynasty(221 B.C.-206 B.C.)
Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of China, established the first centralized, unified, multi-ethnic feudal state in Chinese history-the Qin Dynasty after a few hundred years of disunity. Although the rule of the two Qin emperors lasted only about two decades, it marks the beginning of a more than two thousand years long history of a centralized state with an emperor being the head of a state and a comparatively uniformed culture.
Qin Shihuang made many changes and reforms to unify China and help his administrative tasks. He standardized the written script so as to create a consistent way to help people communicate across the country. Weights, measures and currencies were also standardized, and the system of prefectures and counties were solidly established. The sovereigns of the next 2,000 years actually followed the feudal governmental structure established by the Qin. Qin Shihuang is an epoch-making historic emperor in China’s history. He was praised as a unifier and centralizer, but was attacked and criticized as a cruel tyrant. Under his rule, many constructive public projects were undertaken. Roads and irrigation canals were built throughout the country, and in order to fend off barbarian invasion, the fortification walls were built to make a 5,000-kilometer-long great wall. On the other hand, he executed 400 ofhis opponents and burned the books written before the Qin Dynasty to wipe out ideas which conflicted with the Emperor. The public works and taxes were too great a burden to the population. He forced huge labors to build his tombs, and hundreds upon thousands of the terra cotta armies and horses(see picture 2-3) were found at the burial site, which meant to protect the tomb for the Qin.
