Examples of Western Zhou period in the following topics:
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- Under the initial period of the Zhou Dynasty (called the Western Zhou period), a number of innovations were made, rulers were legitimized under the Mandate of Heaven, a feudal system developed, and new forms of irrigation allowed the population to expand.
- The first period of Zhou rule, during which the Zhou held undisputed power over China, is known as the Western Zhou period.
- This period ended when the capital was moved eastward.
- China created a substantial amount of literature during the Zhou Dynasty.
- The Zhou capital was sacked by the barbarians, and with this the Western Zhou period ended.
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- The Eastern Zhou period was divided into two halves.
- The first period of Zhou rule, which lasted from 1046 - 771 BCE and was referred to as the Western Zhou period, had been characterized mostly by unified, peaceful rule.
- The capital was quickly moved east to Chengzhou, near modern-day Luoyang, and the Zhou abandoned the western regions.
- Thus, the assassination marked the end of the Western Zhou period and the beginning of the Eastern Zhou period
- Explain the main political and military developments during the Eastern Zhou period.
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- Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism and Mohism all began during the Zhou Dynasty in the 6th century BCE, and had very strong influences on Chinese civilization.
- He looked back on the Western
Zhou period, with its strong centralized state, as an ideal.
- Another important
philosopher in this period was Lao-tzu (also called Laozi), who founded Daoism (also called Taoism), during the same period as Confucianism.
- Although Confucianism and Daoism are
the Chinese philosophies that have endured most to this day, even more
important to this early period was a lesser-known philosophy called Legalism.
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- Ceramic and Jade art continued from the Shang dynasty and was improved and refined especially during the Warring States Period.
- Very few paintings from the Zhou have survived, but has remained are written descriptions of them.
- The Zhou continued and developed lacquer work done in the Shang dynasty.
- During the Eastern Zhou period, a large quantity of lacquerware began to be produced.
- Identify some of the art forms prevelant under the Zhou Dynasty.
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- In 1046 BCE, the Zhou, a subject people living in the western part of the kingdom, overthrew the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye.
- This was a battle between Shang and Zhou clans, over the Shang's expansion.
- The Zhou established authority by forging alliances with regional nobles, and founded their new dynasty with its capital at Fenghao (near present-day Xi'an, in western China).
- The Zhou claimed that their rule was justified by the Mandate of Heaven.
- The need for the Zhou to create a history of a unified China is also why some scholars think the Xia Dynasty may have been an invention of the Zhou.
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- It succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was followed by the Yuan dynasty.
- The Song dynasty is divided into two distinct periods, Northern and Southern.
- The Later Zhou was the last of the Five Dynasties that had controlled northern China after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907.
- Zhao Kuangyin, later known as Emperor Taizu (r. 960–976), usurped the throne from the Zhou with the support of military commanders in 960, initiating the Song dynasty.
- Although the Song state was evenly matched against the Liao dynasty, the Song gained significant military victories against the Western Xia (who would eventually fall to the Mongol conquest of Genghis Khan in 1227).
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- The first period, called the Western Han, lasted until 9 CE.
- This Western Han period would last from 206 BCE to 9 CE, when the dynasty's rule would be briefly interrupted by rebellion and the short-lived Xin Dynasty.
- Throughout the Western Han period, the Han largely continued the governing policies of the Qin, continuing to expand the bureaucracy and encouraging a centralized state.
- Emperor Gaozu rewarded his supporters with grants of land, which started again the same problems that had brought down the Zhou Dynasty.
- Compare the Han Dynasty with the earlier Qin Dynasty, and explain the Western Han period.
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- It built huge cities, monopolized bronze, and developed writing, until it was overthrown by the Zhou.
- The Shang Dynasty (also
called the Yin Dynasty) succeeded the Xia Dynasty, and was followed by the Zhou
Dynasty.
- The Shang Dynasty was overthrown in 1046 BCE by the Zhou, a subject people living in the western part of the kingdom.
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- The final part of the Mythical Period was under the rule of the legendary Xia Dynasty, which may have been mythological.
- Yu supposedly began the practice of inherited rule (passing power from father to son), a model that was perpetuated in the later Shang and Zhou dynasties.
- Many argue that the Zhou Dynasty, which ruled China much later, invented the idea of the Xia Dynasty to support their claim that China could only be, and had always been, ruled by one ruler.
- The Zhou created the idea of the "Mandate of Heaven," which stated that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China at any given time.
- Some people argue, therefore, that the Zhou may have created the idea of an ancient Xia Dynasty to support the idea that China always had one ruler.
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- The second part of the Eastern Zhou period, during which these few remaining states battled each other for total power, is known as the Warring States period.
- This period also saw the further development of the philosophical movements that originated in the Hundred Schools of Thought of the Spring and Autumn period.
- The Rise of the Qin State and Resolution of the Warring States Period
- Map showing the seven warring states of the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty, c. 260 BCE.
- Demonstrate understanding of the main characteristics of the Warring States period