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regions, which were sometimes adversaries. Most attacks against Shang territory originated from its north and northwest, and the final onslaught, which overwhelmed the dynasty and permitted the rival Zhou dynasty to take power, derived from the northwest. Competition for land and for control of mineral deposits and other natural resources provoked crises and conflicts between the Shang and nearby territories. Such hostilities bedeviled relations between these various states. Ironically, conflict may have resulted in interaction and borrowing among a few, which enlarged the territory in which cultural homogeneity prevailed.
N OTES
1 K. C. Chang,
The Archaeology of Ancient China
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 4th ed., 1986), p. 310.
F URTHER R EADING
E. J. W. Barber,
The Mummies of Ürümchi
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1999).
K. C. Chang,
Shang Civilization
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980).
K. C. Chang,
The Archaeology of Ancient China
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 4th ed., 1986).
David Keightley,
Sources of Shang China: The Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
Harry Shapiro,
Peking Man
(London: Allen & Unwin, 1974).
[2]
C LASSICAL C HINA , 1027–256 BCE
----
“Feudalism”?
Changes in Social Structure
Political Instability in the Eastern Zhou
Transformations in the Economy
Hundred Schools of Thought
Daoism
Popular Religions
Confucianism
Mohism
Legalism
Book of Odes
and
Book of Documents
Secularization of Arts
----
“F EUDALISM”?
Although the Zhou lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, its longevity may be deceptive. There was a sharp break in the dynasty, for in 771 BCE it was compelled to move its capital. During the first phase, known as the Western Zhou, its administrative center was located in the Wei river valley, west of the modern city of Xian; in the succeeding phase, known as the Eastern Zhou, the capital was transferred to Chengzhou (near the present-day location of Luoyang), which the Western Zhou had used as a secondary capital. The remaining five centuries of Eastern Zhou rule witnessed a rapid deterioration in its ability to govern, leading to a chaotic struggle for power between areas reputedly under its jurisdiction during the so-called Warring States period (403–221 BCE ).
Map 2.1 Warring States-era divisions
The Zhou had from its inception set up a decentralized government, which some scholars identify as similar to the European system of feudalism. However, the concept of feudalism is also murky. In its simplest form, it consisted of a legal and military system based on a relationship between a lord and a vassal. A lord who owned land turned over possession of a portion of that land (known as a fief) to a vassal in return, principally, for military services. Their mutual obligations and rights entailed a pledge of loyalty to the lord by the vassal and a pledge of protection of the vassal by the lord. Peasants who worked the land on manors for the lords and vassals or in Church estates were also part of this feudal society. Yet there were so many variations of “feudalism” in Europe that some scholars have stopped using the term in relation to China. Thus, the Western Zhou may be best described as a society in which the local nobility often supplanted the kings as true wielders of power. The rudimentary levels of transport, communications, and technology clearly reduced the opportunities for centralization. Even so, the Zhou political system, particularly the Eastern Zhou, tilted further toward localism than such limitations would have mandated.
Decentralization stemmed from the initial Zhou conquests, though it should be noted that disentangling myth from reality concerning its early years is difficult. Part of the problem is that texts allegedly written in the Zhou actually derive from later periods. Many Chinese accepted the earlier dates. The sources all concur that the Zhou
N OTES
1 K. C. Chang,
The Archaeology of Ancient China
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 4th ed., 1986), p. 310.
F URTHER R EADING
E. J. W. Barber,
The Mummies of Ürümchi
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1999).
K. C. Chang,
Shang Civilization
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980).
K. C. Chang,
The Archaeology of Ancient China
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 4th ed., 1986).
David Keightley,
Sources of Shang China: The Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
Harry Shapiro,
Peking Man
(London: Allen & Unwin, 1974).
[2]
C LASSICAL C HINA , 1027–256 BCE
----
“Feudalism”?
Changes in Social Structure
Political Instability in the Eastern Zhou
Transformations in the Economy
Hundred Schools of Thought
Daoism
Popular Religions
Confucianism
Mohism
Legalism
Book of Odes
and
Book of Documents
Secularization of Arts
----
“F EUDALISM”?
Although the Zhou lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, its longevity may be deceptive. There was a sharp break in the dynasty, for in 771 BCE it was compelled to move its capital. During the first phase, known as the Western Zhou, its administrative center was located in the Wei river valley, west of the modern city of Xian; in the succeeding phase, known as the Eastern Zhou, the capital was transferred to Chengzhou (near the present-day location of Luoyang), which the Western Zhou had used as a secondary capital. The remaining five centuries of Eastern Zhou rule witnessed a rapid deterioration in its ability to govern, leading to a chaotic struggle for power between areas reputedly under its jurisdiction during the so-called Warring States period (403–221 BCE ).
Map 2.1 Warring States-era divisions
The Zhou had from its inception set up a decentralized government, which some scholars identify as similar to the European system of feudalism. However, the concept of feudalism is also murky. In its simplest form, it consisted of a legal and military system based on a relationship between a lord and a vassal. A lord who owned land turned over possession of a portion of that land (known as a fief) to a vassal in return, principally, for military services. Their mutual obligations and rights entailed a pledge of loyalty to the lord by the vassal and a pledge of protection of the vassal by the lord. Peasants who worked the land on manors for the lords and vassals or in Church estates were also part of this feudal society. Yet there were so many variations of “feudalism” in Europe that some scholars have stopped using the term in relation to China. Thus, the Western Zhou may be best described as a society in which the local nobility often supplanted the kings as true wielders of power. The rudimentary levels of transport, communications, and technology clearly reduced the opportunities for centralization. Even so, the Zhou political system, particularly the Eastern Zhou, tilted further toward localism than such limitations would have mandated.
Decentralization stemmed from the initial Zhou conquests, though it should be noted that disentangling myth from reality concerning its early years is difficult. Part of the problem is that texts allegedly written in the Zhou actually derive from later periods. Many Chinese accepted the earlier dates. The sources all concur that the Zhou
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