Western Zhou

  General Description   The Western Zhou Dynasty was the first Chinese state to claim the Mandate of Heaven, the divinely bestowed right to rule. Zhou was a tributary state to Shang until the Zhou king Zhou Wu Wang defeated the last king of Shang in the 1046 BCE Battle of Muye. ^[1] Zhou power was consolidated after the Duke of Zhou’s defeat of the Rebellion of the Three Guards, led by Shang loyalists and separatist eastern nobles. ^[2] In defeating the rebellion, the Zhou state was able to add a large area of land in eastern China to its territory. ^[1]
The Western Zhou established their capital at Haojing, and the Duke of Zhou later established Chengzhou as a second capital. ^[3] In 957 BCE, the Zhou controlled territory covering an estimated 850,000 square kilometres based in the central plains of China.
The period was peaceful for the first 75 years of Zhou rule. ^[4] However, the decentralization of Zhou power into fiefdoms encouraged turmoil between states, popular unrest, and vassal rebellions. ^[4] The Marquess of Shen sacked Haojing and killed the 12th Zhou king over a succession dispute in 771 BCE. ^[5] The crown prince subsequently moved the capital to Luoyang and founded the Eastern Zhou dynasty.
The Western Zhou are noted for their introduction of the Mandate of Heaven, their kinship-based feudal system and their use of lineage law. ^[6] The state’s kinship-based feudal system encouraged the spread of Zhou writing, culture and identity. ^[7] Some scholars have seen Zhou lineage law, with its emphasis on ’lineage rituals, familial ethics, and beneficent rule’, as an intellectual precursor of Confucianism. ^[7] The hierarchies, division of labour and meritocratic practices that emerged under the Western Zhou also helped lay the foundations for the introduction of bureaucracy. ^[7]
Population and political organization
The Western Zhou state was a proto-feudal monarchy in which feudal lords were supported by an extended family network. ^[8] The first king of Zhou introduced the fengjian system, which made military leaders and members of the royal family into regional lords ruling over parcels of land. ^[9] These fiefdoms were then divided into smaller units and distributed to members of the local rulers’ families. ^[8]
Individual fiefdoms had their own taxes, legal systems, and currencies but paid dues to the king and provided soldiers in times of need. ^[9] This system eventually led to decentralization and the weakening of Zhou rule. ^[9]
It is difficult to obtain population figures for the Western Zhou period. C. K. Maisels has given an estimate of 13.5 million people in 800 BCE. ^[10]

[1]: (San 2014, 30) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[2]: (San 2014, 31) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[3]: (Theobald 2000) Theobald, Ulrich. 2000. “Zhou History.” http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/zhou.html Accessed May 31, 2017. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/V8ABGJAF.

[4]: (Shaughnessy 1999, 310-11) Shaughnessy, Edward L. 1999. “Western Zhou History.” In The Cambridge History of Ancient China edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy. Cambridge: CUP. 292-351. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945.

[5]: (San 2014, 34) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[6]: (Zhao 2015, 79) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History. Oxford: OUP. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5.

[7]: (Zhao 2015, 80) Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History. Oxford: OUP. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z4ASKKD5.

[8]: (San 2014, 29) San, Tan Koon. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TB95WB7F.

[9]: (Roberts 1999, 9-12) Roberts. John A.G. 1999. A Concise History of China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GEZH7945.

[10]: (Maisels 2001, 260) Maisels, C. K. 2001. Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India, and China. Routledge: London. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/P9IXAB56.