Western Zhou Dynasty Culture
2 min readWestern Zhou（1100-771BC）
There have been several opinions about when the Chinese Feudalistic society started.The famous Chinese historian Jian Bozan，who compiled The Outline ofChinese History，was in favor of the idea that the Western Zhou was the beginning of Chinese Feudalism.
In addition，most scholars think that the Zhou was much more”Chinese”than the Shang.For one，they used a father-to-son succession system.Also，they weren’t too keen on human sacrifice.However，they weren’t as good at working bronze as the Shang.Still，it would be centuries before the West was able to cast bronze as well as the Zhou.Some，though not all，schol-ars believe that the Xia，the Shang，and the Zhou actually were three different cultures that emerged more or less at the same time in different areas of the Yellow River valley.And the his torical record supports this view-the Shang was conquered from outside by the Zhou，as the Xia had been conquered from the outside by the Shang.
China was then made up of a number of quasi-independent principalities.However，the Zhou was the most powerful principality and played the role of hegemony in the area.They were located in the middle of the principalities，giving rise to what the Chinese called their country-the Middle Kingdom.The Zhou was able to maintain peace and stability through the hegemonic system for a few hundred years，then in 771 BC，the capital was sacked by barbarians from the west.The following story describes the event：In order to defend his kingdom from attacks by the Quan Rong一the barbarians from the westthe Zhou built Great Walls along the borders and，in addition，there was a Wind-Fire Tower on the walls at a certain distance.
The sentry should make a fire on the tower in case he saw an invasion.When the men saw the“Wolf Smoke” they would come from all directions to help.Why it is called”WolfSmoke”？This is a very interesting term to explain.The Great Walls were built in barren desert where noth-ing grew.The men used to collect the wolf s dung and dried it up.They would burn it to send a smoke as a signal.
The last King You Wang loved a beautiful but unsmiling lady Bao Si.To make her laugh，the King gave order that fires be made on the Wind-Fire Towers.His dukes who led the armies saw the fire and believed that there must be invaders，so they all ran to the rescue.But they were embarrassed to find the King and his woman sitting on the Tower drinking and talking.They all left silly and disappointed.
One day the enemy really came and the King again ordered to make fires.But this time the men believed that he was crying wolfand they refused to come.The King was killed，the beautiful woman taken away.His palace was burnt down.
