By the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. A number of independent states emerged on Chinese territory and fought among themselves. The most powerful of them was Zhou. The reign of the Zhou dynasty, which lasted from the 11th to the 3rd centuries. BC e., brought a lot of new things to the cultural life of China. During this period, the first collection of poems, “Shijing” (“Book of Songs”), was created, and a treatise on architecture, “Zhou-li,” appeared, which outlined the basic rules for city planning, including the construction of palaces and the laying of wide highways.

Significant changes in the cultural life of the country occurred in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., during the period that went down in history under the name Zhan Guo - “Warring States” (V-III centuries BC), when the state of Zhou lost its unity. The discovery of copper and iron deposits played a decisive role in the rise of the country's economy at this time. Agricultural implements were improved and soil cultivation improved. New cities grew and new crafts developed. Lively trade arose between the cities, and coins appeared in circulation. Chinese scientists began to summarize the first information obtained from observations of nature. In the 7th century BC e. The first Chinese lunisolar calendar was created, and in the 4th century. BC e. a star catalog has been compiled. There was a need for a philosophical understanding of knowledge about nature. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Many different philosophical movements arise, which are called the “hundred schools.” The oldest teachings were Confucianism and Taoism.

In the Zhou era, mass human sacrifices were made to the gods, spirits of ancestors and nature; prisoners were mainly sacrificed. The rich burials of noble people allow us to conclude that there was a belief in an afterlife: in addition to various equipment, clothing, food, etc. In the burials of people of even average income, the remains of their servants or slaves, who were supposed to accompany their master to the next world, were also found buried with them.

In the field of military science, a significant contribution was made by the Chinese theorist and commander Sun Tzu (VI - V centuries BC). He is credited with the authorship of a treatise on the art of war, which shows the relationship between war and politics, indicates the factors influencing victory in war, and examines the strategy and tactics of warfare.

Among the numerous scientific directions, there was an agricultural school (nongjia). Books devoted to the theory and practice of agriculture contain essays that describe methods and methods of cultivating soils and crops, storing food, breeding silkworms, fish and edible turtles, caring for trees and soils, raising livestock, etc.

Following major shifts in economic life and the development of crafts, noticeable changes took place in artistic consciousness, and new types of art emerged. Throughout the Zhou period, the principles of urban planning actively developed with a clear layout of cities, surrounded by a high adobe wall and separated by straight streets intersecting from north to south and from west to east, delimiting commercial, residential and palace quarters.

Applied art occupied a significant place during this period. Bronze mirrors inlaid with silver and gold are becoming widespread. Bronze vessels are distinguished by their elegance and richness of ornamentation. They became thinner and were decorated with inlays with precious stones and non-ferrous metals. Artistic products for everyday use appeared: exquisite trays and dishes, furniture and musical instruments. The first painting on silk was created. In the ancestral temples there were wall frescoes depicting the sky, earth, mountains, rivers, deities and monsters.

1. The reign of the Zhou Dynasty in Ancient China (from the 12th century BC to 221 BC) is divided into three main periods:

Western Zhou period - 1122 - 742 BC e.;
Eastern Zhou period - 770 - 403. BC e.;
period of Zhanguo ("seven warring kingdoms") - 403 - 221.

2. During the Western Zhou period (1122 - 742 BC), the slave state strengthened and its structure became more complex. Society is characterized by a higher level of development of productive forces, an increase in the number of slaves, and the development of large land ownership. Supreme power belonged to the hereditary king (wang), but a centralized state was not created during the entire Zhou period. Wang directly ruled only the capital region, and the rest of the country was divided into principalities, which were ruled by sovereign princes (zhuhou). The territories of the principalities were divided into smaller administrative units, formed on the basis of the previous tribal division. The lowest administrative-territorial unit was the rural community.

The state apparatus, led by the highest dignitary (xiang), consisted of the Wang's close personal servants and trusted slaves. Xiang was the head of the administrative apparatus and Wang's closest assistant in governing the country.

In the Zhou kingdom there was a palace management system: palace employees were also officials. It included a large number of officials with varied competencies. Higher officials (dafu) were divided into three classes - senior, middle, junior.

At the top of the social ladder was the slave-owning aristocracy, which consisted of the Zhou hereditary and military nobility, as well as partly the Yin aristocracy that survived the conquest.

During this period, large-scale land ownership was intensively developing, and there was a tendency to transform holdings into private land ownership. Formally, the king was considered the owner of the land, but the slave-owning aristocracy could freely dispose of their possessions. Over time, the right of large slaveholders to own land turns into ownership of land. Communal land use continued to play a prominent role during the Western Zhou period. The situation of farmers (nunfu) was generally difficult.

Many went bankrupt and became landless tenants. The number of slaves was replenished during this period due to:
prisoners of war;
conquered civilians;

state criminals.

In the middle of the 8th century. BC e. Western Zhou collapsed due to weakening ties between the central government and the rulers of dependent principalities, as well as unsuccessful wars with nomads. When the country broke up into a number of independent states, the Zhou kings turned into rulers of a small possession - Eastern Zhou.

3. The economic and political life of the country during the Eastern Zhou period (770 - 403 BC) is characterized by the following changes:

the development of crafts and trade, which led to an increasing role of the merchants in public life;
the decline of hereditary land ownership of the clan aristocracy. Its lands are gradually transferred to the serving nobility.

Significant land holdings are concentrated in the hands of military leaders, service people, and merchants. Slave owners' private ownership of land is strengthened.

4. During the period "warring states" - Zhanguo(403 - 221 BC) the development of large land ownership continues. It is accompanied by the destruction of the old type of land tenure - communal. With the introduction of the land tax, when instead of cultivating communal fields, farmers were required to pay a tax on their land, one of the first blows was dealt to communal land ownership.

China. Eastern Zhou period

From the very beginning of its existence, the Western Zhou state was faced with the need to repel the raids of surrounding tribes, especially in the northwest and southeast, and for the time being coped with this task. With the growth of Zhuhou separatism, the military power of the Vans weakened and the authority of the royal power fell. The Zhou rulers had great difficulty in holding back the onslaught of the tribes, which became especially strong in the northwest and southeast of the country. In the 8th century BC under the pressure of continuous invasions of Western nomadic tribes from the depths of Central Asia, the Zhou people began to leave their ancestral lands in the river basin. Weihe. In 771, Yu-wan's army was defeated by nomads, he himself was captured, after which his son Ping-wan moved the capital to the east. With this event, traditional Chinese historiography begins the era of Eastern Zhou (770-256 BC). Its initial stage, covering the period from the 7th to the 5th centuries. BC, according to chronicle tradition, is called the period of “Chunqiu” (“Springs and Autumns”).

Having gained a foothold in the east of the country, Ping-wan formed a small state here with its capital in the city of Loi. By this time, according to traditional historiography, there were about 200 kingdoms in China, which a number of researchers, not without reason, classify as city-states. In general, the idea of early state formations in ancient China as despotisms of the Eastern type has long been in need of revision and has been subject to thorough criticism. The Early Zhou kingdoms of ancient China (which cannot be indiscriminately classified as proto-ancient Chinese, because they consolidated various ethnic communities, and not just the proto-Hans) were located from west to east from the valley of the river. Weihe to the Shandong Peninsula, including the Great Chinese Plain, in the south and southeast they captured the valley of the lower and middle reaches of the river. Yangtze, and in the north they reached the area of modern Beijing. They were surrounded by hostile tribes, known under the general names: Di (northern tribes), and (eastern tribes), Man (southern tribes), Rong (western tribes).

Along with archaeological material, many narrative monuments tell about the Chunqiu era. Among them is the above-mentioned lapidary chronicle of the kingdom of Lu (in Shandong) “Chunqiu” with commentaries on it: “Gongyanzhuan”, “Guliangzhuan” and the most famous of all - “Zozhuan”, the so-called “Left Commentary”, as well as “Guoyu” ( "Speeches of the Kingdoms"), dating back to the tradition of the 9th century. BC and of particular interest for the study of this stage of ancient Chinese history.

Among the kingdoms scattered at that time in the basin of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River on the Great Chinese Plain, some considered themselves descendants of the Zhou people, others - the Shan people. But they all recognized the supreme power of the Zhou Wang, proclaimed the Son of Heaven, over themselves, and considered themselves the “middle kingdoms” (zhongguo) of the world - the center of the Universe. The ritual and magical concept of the Zhou Wang as the Son of Heaven, which spread at this time, was associated with the cult of Heaven - the supreme deity - which originated in China along with the Zhou statehood. Compared to the Shan cults of ancestors and forces of nature, the cult of Heaven and the Son of Heaven, as its earthly incarnation, was supra-tribal, interethnic, compatible with local communal cults, but rising above them. Together with the doctrine of the Will (Mandate) of Heaven (Tianming - "Divine Investiture"), it served the idea of the charisma of the wang's power and the legitimation of the right of the Zhou dynasty to rule in the Celestial Empire (Tianxia - Country under Heaven). Although the Eastern Zhou kingdom at that time was by no means the largest and far from the strongest militarily, it was a kind of binding unity of the “Zhou world” due to the tradition-sanctified idea of the sacred nature of the power of its rulers. It played a major role in establishing diplomatic relations between the “middle kingdoms” throughout the Chunqiu period.

In addition to the “middle kingdoms”, on the territory of the “Zhou world” there were other states that were in no way inferior to them either in size or in level of cultural development. Among them stood out the southern kingdoms of Chu (in the middle reaches of the Yangtze), Wu (in the Yangtze delta) and to the south of them - Yue. Their population was related to the ancestors of the Vietnamese, Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Tai and other peoples of Southeast Asia. By the 7th century. BC Chu turned out to be one of the most powerful kingdoms; its rulers appropriated the title of Vanir and, having led the coalition of the southern kingdoms, actively participated in the struggle of the ancient Chinese kingdoms for hegemony in the Celestial Empire.

The Zhou civilization adopted and developed the important achievements of the Shanyin culture (primarily hieroglyphic writing and bronze casting techniques). "Chunqiu" was a period of advanced Bronze Age in China. At this time, the technology for manufacturing bronze alloys was progressing. The production of bronze tools is expanding. New types of offensive weapons are appearing, primarily small arms. Thus, in Chu, a powerful crossbow with a bronze trigger is invented, the design of which required the use of the highest quality bronze for its manufacture. The Chunqiu era was the apogee of the power of the chariot army; chariot driving was one of the six highest arts of the Zhou aristocracy. At this time, there was a growth of cities as cultural and political centers; They, as a rule, remain small, but cities with a population of 5-15 thousand people also arise.

The rulers of kingdoms widely practiced distributing land for service, which, in particular, meant the assignment of rights to receive revenue from communities. Due to the disintegration of communal property in many kingdoms, communal redistribution of land, which was hereditarily assigned to individual families, ceased. This caused a change in the entire system of withdrawal by the state of surplus product from the bulk of producers. According to available data, first in the kingdom of Lu (in 594 BC), then in Chu (in 548 BC), and then in other states, a system of collective cultivation by a community of part of its fields for the benefit the king was replaced by a grain tax (usually one tenth of the harvest) from each family's field. In essence, this was the beginning of regular taxation of farmers, which influenced the nature of community self-government bodies.

Among the representatives of community self-government bodies, we know: the elders of the fuloo, elected by the common people (shuren) in the communities (li), the board of three chief elders (sonloo) and the headman, or mayor (lizheng). Self-government bodies apparently functioned actively in cities and community associations(s). Representatives of community self-government bodies were responsible for performing labor duties, collecting taxes, maintaining order in the community, and performing intercommunal worship (in particular, san lao). They could raise local militias, organize city defenses, hold court over the people of the community, and even sentence them to death. In a number of kingdoms they could independently communicate with the outside world, and with the help of local militia they could influence the outcome of the internecine struggle of contenders for the royal throne. In the socio-political life of the Chunqiu period, an active role was played by the layer of goren - “free people”, “full citizens of the city-state”, obliged to perform military service, pay taxes and carry out a number of duties. Sometimes they act on the side of the ruler in his struggle with the powerful nobility; their active intervention in the affairs of the internal and foreign policy of the kingdoms suggests the presence there of remnants of the institution of the people's assembly. Information about guozhen in the kingdoms of Zheng, Wei, Jin, Qi, Song, Chen, Lu, and Ju may be evidence that these states retained certain features of a democratic structure. In a number of cases, the rulers of the kingdoms even entered into agreements with the Guozhen on mutual support. However, the role of goren in the political life of the kingdoms by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. disappeared everywhere.

During this period, facts of alienation of private estates and vegetable gardens appeared, but land transactions still did not receive any noticeable spread. As the process of community stratification deepens, debt slavery develops, first under the guise of “adoption” and “pledge” of children. In order to keep the worker on the farm, the Zhuizi hostages were often married to the owner’s daughter. Patriarchal slavery was widespread in the private households of community members. Nuchanzi, slaves brought into the house by slaves, were used for housework. Slave labor was also used in agriculture. In some cases, private individuals accumulated many slaves. So, for example, according to narrative monuments, in 593 BC. The Jin commander received a thousand families from among the captured “barbarians” from the “Red Di” tribe. Even if this number is greatly exaggerated by the source, it is still very large. Such a large number of workers could hardly be employed at a time in the private sector. Apparently, they were counting on their implementation, which suggests the development of the slave trade. However, in general, private slavery during this period had not yet received noticeable development. The sources of state slavery remained the capture of prisoners of war and enslavement by court. Slaves were often called by profession (groom, woodcutter, porter, shepherd, cleaner, artisan) or general names were applied to them, for example, “servant”, “youth”. Forced laborers used in production were also designated by collective terms - li and pu - referring to persons who had lost their status guaranteeing personal freedom. It is significant that during this period the “classical” term for a slave was established - well, which then became standard for all subsequent periods of Chinese history. A characteristic feature of slave ownership in Eastern Zhou society was the preservation by many categories of slaves of the characteristics of a subject of law.

On the territory of the "middle kingdoms" there was a process of formation of the Huaxia ethnocultural community, during which the idea of the exclusivity and cultural superiority of the Huaxia over the rest of the world periphery - the "barbarians of the four cardinal directions" (Si Yi) - emerged. Moreover, in this East Zhou ethnocentric model of the ecumene, not ethnically distinctive, but culturally distinctive features are brought to the fore. The idea of the absolute cultural priority of the zhongguo ren (“people of the middle kingdoms”) has since that time become the most important component of the ethnic self-awareness of the ancient Chinese. However, even then it was decisively disputed by those ancient Chinese thinkers who realized its complete inconsistency with contemporary reality. As already mentioned, in addition to the “middle kingdoms,” there were other large states on the territory of China, in some ways even ahead of them in social development. The high culture of the non-Hua Xia kingdoms of Chu, Wu and Yue has been known for a relatively long time from excavation materials, and archaeologists are receiving more and more new data confirming this. In recent years, thanks to their efforts, monuments to the previously almost unknown from written sources of the Eastern Zhou kingdom of Zhuwshan, founded by the “White Di” tribes in Northern China (in Hebei), which had a high original culture, were discovered; Zhongshan products are among the best artistic examples of bronze art of ancient China from the mid-1st millennium BC. However, in the chronicles the kingdom of Zhongshan is mentioned only in passing, since it could not withstand the onslaught of the “middle kingdoms”. It is also known that in addition to Zhuwshan, two more kingdoms were created by the “white di” in the same region during the “Chunqiu” era - Fei and Gu.

The opposition of the Huaxia kingdoms to all the “barbarians of the four sides of the world” is clearly manifested in the relationships of the kingdoms during the “Chunqiu” period: mutually respectful - “brotherly, related” between the Huaxia, bound by special rules for waging internecine wars - on the one hand, and filled with contempt for the Huaxia kingdoms towards “insignificant barbarians” - on the other. Meanwhile, from the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th century. BC the outlying non-Hua Xia kingdoms are brought to the forefront of the political conjuncture as “hegemons” (ba), actually dictating their will to the Celestial Empire during the “Chunqiu” period. Among them, the ancient Chinese historical tradition names at least four rulers of the “barbarian” kingdoms: the northwestern Rong kingdom of Qin, the already mentioned southern Man kingdoms of Chu and Wu, and the southernmost of all, the ethnically heterogeneous kingdom of Yue. Of these, only Qin nominally recognized the authority of the East Zhou Wang.

For centuries, the “middle kingdoms” were in constant and intense contact with these and other neighboring ethnic peoples and tribal groups of East Asia, during which a complex process of assimilation and mutual influence took place. The formation of the Huaxia community was significantly influenced by the settlement on the Middle Eastern Plain in the 7th-6th centuries. BC northern tribes di, belonging to the so-called "Scythian world". Borrowing the cultural achievements of “foreign” ethnic groups was of no small importance for the socio-political, economic and ideological development of the “middle kingdoms”. Since the end of the Chunqiu period, the territory of the Huaxia has noticeably expanded, although within the river basin. Yellow River and the middle reaches of the river. Yangtze. The relationships between the “middle kingdoms” and the peripheral kingdoms of Qin, Yan and Chu are becoming increasingly close, which, for their part, are directly involved in the sphere of cultural influence of the Huaxia. All these processes occur against the backdrop of fierce wars between kingdoms, which became extremely intense at the beginning of the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Militarily strong non-Hua Xia kingdoms actively intervene in the internecine struggle of the “middle kingdoms,” and it is their participation in one or another military coalition that often decides the outcome of conflicts. “States with ten thousand war chariots” (“Wan Cheng Guo”) seemed to contemporaries to be a powerful force that determined the fate of the Celestial Empire. The growing tension of the internecine struggle of the “middle kingdoms” was complemented by clashes of political forces within them. The dominant position in the ancient Chinese kingdoms of the Chunqiu period belonged to the hereditary aristocracy, usually associated with kinship with the royal houses. She occupied the highest positions in government administration and owned bronze war chariots, which constituted the main striking force of the army. In counterbalance, rulers began to form armies from infantry units. Since the 6th century. BC The fierce struggle of noble families for power in their kingdoms is everywhere noted. In an effort to weaken the power of this clan hierarchical aristocracy, the rulers of the kingdoms are trying to rely on personally loyal people from humble families, introducing a new system of official remuneration - “salary”, which began to be paid in grain, which served as the most important equivalent of value. These innovations in the field of political management led to a change in the nature of the state structure. In large kingdoms, a centralized political and administrative system of government was gradually established.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the political map of ancient China, compared to the beginning of the “Chunqiu” period, changes radically: from two hundred state formations there are less than thirty, among which the “seven strongest” stand out - Qin, Yan and Chu, classified as “peripheral”, as well as Wei, Zhao , Han and Qi are the largest of the “middle kingdoms”. The irreconcilable struggle between them for predominance and dominance in the Celestial Empire becomes the determining factor in the political history of ancient China in the subsequent period - V-III centuries. BC, - included in the tradition called "Zhangguo" ("Warring Kingdoms"), which ends in 221 BC.

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The reign of the Zhou dynasty is divided into three periods: the period of Western Zhou (1122-742 BC), Eastern Zhou (770-403 BC), the period of “warring states” (403-221 BC). ).
The Western Zhou period was marked by a higher level of development of productive forces, an increase in the number of slaves, and the development of large land ownership. The slave state is strengthened and its structure becomes more complex.
Social system. The dominant position in society was occupied by the slave-owning aristocracy, which included the Zhou hereditary and military nobility, part of the Yin slave-owning aristocracy that survived the conquest.
The owner of the land was still the king (van). He disposed of the land, granting and taking it away. Large landowners developed
tion. The slave-owning aristocracy freely disposed of its possessions - judging by the available data, land could be alienated, leased, or mortgaged. During this period, there was a tendency to transform possessions into private land ownership, although formally the ownership of land remained dependent on the will of the king. Subsequently, with the weakening of the power of the Zhou kings, the right of large slave owners to own land was transformed into the right to own land.
Communal land use continued to play a major role during the Western Zhou period. The above-mentioned system of “well fields” has been preserved. In general, farmers (nunfu) eked out a miserable existence. Many of them became landless tenants.
At the very bottom of the social ladder were slaves, whose number increased due to prisoners of war, conquered civilians, and state criminals. At the same time, the number of private slaves increased. Slave labor was widely used in various sectors of the economy.
Political system. Supreme power was in the hands of the hereditary king (van).
In the Zhou kingdom there was a palace management system: palace employees were also officials. It included a large number of officials with a wide variety of competencies: an official in charge of the king’s stables, a scribe, the head of the royal archive, the keeper of the royal treasury, an official monitoring the ritual, etc.
The state apparatus consisted of the Wang's close personal servants, and sometimes trusted slaves. The highest official (xiang) headed the state apparatus. Xiang was the head of the administrative apparatus and Wang's closest assistant in governing the country. Higher officials (dafu) were divided into three categories: senior, middle, junior.
According to legend, King Cheng Wang (1115-1079 BC) organized and strengthened the state apparatus. The main advisers to the king were the “three gunas”: “great mentor”, “great teacher” and “great patron” (from among them the xiang was appointed). In addition, three managers played a significant role in the state: one was in charge of the cult, the other headed the department of public works (he was in charge of the land fund and irrigation system), the third (“the great chief of horses”) managed the military department. Priests and fortune tellers played a prominent role in Western Zhou. There were the positions of high priest and “great fortuneteller.”

The army was not completely permanent. It consisted of two parts: small cadre detachments and militia collected during the war.
There was no centralized state during the entire Zhou period, and only the capital region was under the direct control of the wang. The rest of the country was ruled by the sovereign princes - Zhuhou. During this period, the hierarchical system of princely titles created back in the Yin era was finally established, consisting of five categories: gong, hou, bo, ji, inan. The rulers received their territory from the hands of the Zhou king and were obliged to appear at court at certain times. This emphasized their dependence on the king.
The territory of the principality was divided into smaller administrative units, formed on the basis of the previous tribal division. The lowest administrative-territorial unit was the rural community. Judging by the available data, the structure of rural communities was not the same in different principalities. The most typical was the following: five families made up a neighboring community - lin, five such communities made up a village - li, four li formed a “clan” of zu, five zu made up a group - dan, five dan made up a district - zhou, five zhou formed xiang. At the head of the Xiang was the ruler - Qing. The lowest administrative position was the headman of the village community.
In the 9th century. BC. The ties between the central government and the rulers of dependent principalities are weakened. The rulers of the principalities stop visiting the court and do not send tribute. Increased exploitation leads to discontent among the masses. Unsuccessful wars with nomads contribute to the collapse of Western Zhou. The country breaks up into a number of independent states. The Zhou kings turned into rulers of a small domain - Eastern Zhou.
The Eastern Zhou period is characterized by major changes in the economic and political life of the country. The development of crafts and trade determines the increasing role of the merchants in public life. There is a loss of the hereditary slave-owning nobility of their ancestral land holdings, which pass into the hands of military leaders, service people, and merchants. This leads to the decline of hereditary land ownership of the clan aristocracy and the strengthening of private property of slave owners in land. Significant land holdings were concentrated in the hands of the serving nobility. Large landholdings are formed not only through awards for constant service and special merits, but also through violent seizures by the strong from the weaker.

The development of large land ownership also marked the next period in the history of China - the period of Zhanguo (“warring states”). At the same time, old-type communal land tenure (the “well field” system) is being destroyed. One of the first blows to communal land ownership was dealt by the introduction of a land tax: instead of cultivating communal fields, farmers had to pay a tax on their land.
Since the destruction of the Western Zhou monarchy, there has been no single state. The country broke up into many independent states, which waged a fierce struggle among themselves; in the process, weaker states were absorbed by stronger ones. In the 4th century. BC. There is a strengthening of the kingdom of Qin, which emerges victorious from the struggle with other kingdoms in the 3rd century. BC. founds a new Qin kingdom.

The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that ruled between the Shang Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. Zhou's reign was divided into two periods:

The Western Zhou ruled China from 1045 BC. – 771 BC
Eastern Zhou had been in power since 770 BC. – 256 BC

The Eastern Zhou Dynasty is also divided into two time periods:

Spring and Autumn Period (Chunqiu)(from 770-476 BC) and
Warring States Period (Zhangguo) lasted from 475 - 221. BC e., when the reign of Zhou ended, other kingdoms determined politics in China.

During the reign of the Zhou dynasty, the foundations of such philosophical and religious ideas as Confucianism and Taoism were laid (around 600 BC. Later, during the reign of the following dynasties, they would develop into a mass ideology.

According to the found writing, the ruler of the Zhou Dynasty, whose name was Zhou Wu, attacked the last emperor of the Shang Dynasty, which secured for himself and his descendants the imperial title and 800 years of dynastic history.

The Zhou Dynasty was originally a strong clan. But over time, as the territory grew, local rulers became even more powerful. It is believed that the Zhou Empire was originally located in a small area around the Yellow River - the Yellow River.

In 771 BC. e., after Yu-wan replaced his wife with a concubine, the capital was occupied by the troops of the father of the offended queen, who by that time had entered into an alliance with the nomads.

The queen's son was proclaimed the new Emperor, and he was recognized by the Zheng, Lu and Qin guns and Hou Shen, the father of the former eldest wife.

The capital of the Celestial Empire was moved to Luoyang.
For historians, this event, associated with the weakening of central power and the transfer of the capital from west to east, marks the transition from the Western Zhou period to the Eastern Zhou period.

Stable chronological references begin from 841 BC. e., from this date the history of the dynasty can be traced in Historical notes – “Shiji”the author of which wasSima Qian, as well as in other Chinese chronicles of that time.

Eastern Zhou (770-476)

Spring and Autumn Period- gave rise to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. At this time, the first Emperor of Eastern Zhou already ruled in the eastern capital - Luoyang.

Spring and Autumn Period – Chunqiu

During the Spring and Autumn period, the dynasty that originally began in the territory of the Yellow River had already reached the Yangtze River, but although the dynastic clan already owned many lands, their territory was instill not extensive enough to assemble an army on which the defense of nearby territories depended.

The greatest power during this period was vested in the kingdoms of Jin, Chu, Qi and Qin, as well as the kingdom of Zheng. Their favorable position allowed them to actively intervene in the affairs of the central court, which often determined the main