The arts of the early Zhou were essentially a continuation of those of the Shang dynasty the earliest Chinese dynasty verified by scholars, ruling from ca. That was especially true of bronze casting an object made by pouring molten metal or other material into a mold.
The Zhou people used Shang bronze designs as a foundation for their own decorative bronzes, but they also introduced new motifs and shapes. In addition, a nomadic invasion forced Zhou rulers to flee to the east and build a new capital at modern-day Luoyang loo-o-uh-yahng. The Eastern Zhou was an era of intense political turmoil. States were at constant war with one another for land and political control. In fact, the latter half of the period is known as the Warring States Period — BCE , when the small states eventually consolidated into seven strong kingdoms.
These seven states fought with each other for mastery until one of them, Qin chin , succeeded and established the Qin dynasty — BCE. The weakening of central Zhou authority is reflected in the visual arts. Bronze objects were no longer used solely for state and religious rituals. Local rulers could commission and purchase bronzes to display their status and wealth. This was evident in bronze inscriptions. Zhou bronze inscriptions F A new addition to Zhou bronzes are musical instruments, including bells F While the chariot remained in use, there was a shift during the period to infantry, possibly because of the invention of the crossbow.
This meant that war became larger scale, as peasants were drafted to take the place of nobility as soldiers and needed complex logistical support. The Art of War , attributed to Sun Tzu, was written during this time; it remains a very influential book about strategy.
A sophisticated form of commercial arithmetic was in place during the period, as shown by a bundle of bamboo slips showing two digit decimal multiplication.
Bamboo Slips Showing Arithmetic. These bamboo slips show a sophisticated two digit decimal multiplication table. Developments in iron work replaced bronze as the dominant metal used in warfare. Trade became increasingly important among states within China.
Large-scale works, including the Dujiangyan Irrigation System and the Zhengguo Canal, were completed and increased agricultural production. Iron Sword from the Warring States Period. This iron sword is an example of the metal work done during this period. The Zhou Dynasty was founded by the Ji family and had its capital at Hao near the present-day city of Xian. Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, gradually sinicized, that is, extended Shang culture through much of China Proper north of the Yangtze River.
In western histories, the Zhou period is often described as feudalism because the Zhou's early decentralized rule invites comparison with medieval rule in Europe. However, historians debate the meaning of the term feudal, the more appropriate term for the Zhou Dynasty's political arrangement would be from the Chinese language itself: the Fengjian system. The Zhou amalgam of city-states became progressively centralized and established increasingly impersonal political and economic institutions.
These developments, which probably occurred in the later Zhou period, were manifested in greater central control over local governments and a more routinized agrarian taxation. In Chinese histories, the Zhou Dynasty marks the beginning of the feudal phase of Chinese history, a period which is said to extend to the fall of the Qing Dynasty in With the royal line broken, the power of the Zhou court gradually diminished, the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated.
From Ping Wang onwards, the Zhou kings ruled in name only, with true power lying in the hands of powerful nobles. Towards the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the nobles did not even bother to acknowledge the Ji family symbolically and declared themselves to be kings.
They wanted to be the king of the kings.
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