Spring and Autumn Period
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The Spring and Autumn Period (Chinese: 春秋時代; pinyin: Chūnqiū Shídài) represented an era in Chinese history between 722 BC and 481 BC. The period takes its name from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the period whose authorship was traditionally attributed to Confucius. During the Spring and Autumn Period, power became decentralized. This period was filled with battles and annexation of some 170 smaller states. The slow crumbling of nobility resulted in widespread literacy; increasing literacy encouraged freedom of thought and technological advancement. This era is followed by the Warring States Period.
One thing must be understood, China was not considered an empire at this time. It wasn't until the first emperor of China, Emperor Qin of the Qin Empire (秦), that China ended its feudal period. During the Zhou Dynasty, the center of power was, or was supposed to have been, in the hands of the king of the Zhou Dynasty. Note that king and emperor are not the same at all. As the king of Zhou, he enjoyed tributes from his nobilities who ruled regions inherited from their ancestors. These ancestors who were appointed nobilities or dukes of states were often officers who had achieved great deeds for the king of the ruling dynasty. In this case, the Zhou Dynasty. The king of Zhou did not exactly have direct control over his tributary states. Instead, the collective loyalty of the dukes and nobilities made up the power of the king of Zhou. As loyalty deteriorated, so did the power of the king. It is important to understand that the first emperor of China saw that the feudal system would eventually lead to a weak king and a chaotic situation. As a result, the empire that he built ruled China with a strong centralized institution that did not rely on the loyalty of local dukes.
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The naming system
To avoid getting confused, one should understand how and why the dukes and kings were titled and named. In western culture, when a person becomes king, he or she becomes king or queen plus name. For example, Richard the Lionheart became King Richard. Whenever a ruler or a king come into power in China, he gets a title that defines the region in which he rules and an identifier that distinguishes him from his predecessors. For example, Duke Huan of Qí, where Qi is the name of the state that he ruled and Huan was the ruler identifier name. Aside from the title, the real name of the ruler often comes after to give him more description. For example, Duke Li of Zheng, Jī Tū. In this case, the ruled named Jī Tū had the title of Duke and ruled the state of Zheng and was called Duke Li. While one will come across many words in Chinese that have the same English sound, they might be different in Chinese. If possible, keeping an eye on the Chinese characters can help identify the different people as well.
Diminishing power of Zhou
The fall of the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty (周朝), Hao, marks the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period. After the capital was sacked by western barbarian tribes, crown prince Ji Yijiu (姬宜臼) fled to the east. During the flight from the western capital to the east, the Zhou king relied on the nearby lords of Qin (秦), Zheng (鄭) and Jin (晉) for protection from barbarians and rebellious lords. He moved the Zhou capital from Zongzhou (Hao) to Chengzhou (today Luoyang) in the Yellow River valley.
The fleeing Zhou elite did not have strong footholds in the eastern territories; even the crown prince's coronation had to be supported by those states to be successful. With the Zhou domain greatly reduced, limited to Luoyang and nearby areas, the Zhou court could no longer support six groups of standing troops (liu4 jun1 六軍). Subsequent Zhou kings had to request help from neighboring or powerful states for protection from raids and for resolution of internal power struggles. The Zhou court would never regain its original authority; the Zhou court was relegated to being merely a figurehead of the feudal states. Though Zhou nominally retained the Mandate of Heaven, the title held no power.
Rise of the hegemons
The first nobility to help the Zhou kings was the Duke Zhuang of Zheng (鄭莊公) (r. 743 BC-701 BC). He was the first to establish the hegemonical system (ba4 霸), which was intended to retain the old proto-feudal system. Traditional historians justified the new system as a means of protecting weaker civilized states and the Zhou royalty from the intruding "barbarian" tribes. Located in the south, north, east and west, the barbarian tribes were, respectively, the Man, Yi, Rong and Di.
All so-called "civilized" states, however, were actually composed of a substantial mix of ethnicities; hence, there was no fine line between a "civilized" state and a "barbarian" one. Nevertheless, these ethnically and culturally different tribes had their own unique civilizations in some areas. Some ethnic groups were so substantially civilized and powerful by traditional Chinese standards that their political entities, including Wu and Yue, are even included in some versions of the five overlords (see below).
The newly powerful states were more eager to maintain aristocratic privileges over the traditional ideology of supporting the weak ruling entity during times of unrest (匡扶社稷 kuang1 fu2 she4 ji4), which had been widely propagated during imperial China to consolidate power into the ruling family.
Dukes Huan of Qi (r. 685 BC-643 BC) and Wen of Jin (r. 636 BC-628 BC) made further steps in installing the overlordship system, which brought relative stability, but in shorter time periods than before. Annexations increased, favoring the several most powerful states, including Qin, Jin, Qi and Chu. The overlord role gradually drifted from its stated intention of protecting weaker states; the overlordship eventually became a system of hegemony of major states over weaker satellites of Chinese and "barbarian" origin.
The great states used the pretext of aid and protection to intervene and gain advantages over the smaller states during their internal quarrels. Later overlords were mostly derived from these great states. They proclaimed themselves master of their territories, without even recognizing the petty figurehead of Zhou. Establishment of the local administration system (Jun and Xian), with its officials appointed by the government, gave states better control over the dominion. Taxation facilitated commerce and agriculture more than proto-feudalism.
The three states of Qin, Jin and Qi not only optimized their own strength, but also repelled the southern state of Chu, whose rulers had proclaimed themselves kings. The Chu armies gradually intruded into the Yellow River Basin. Framing Chu as the "southern barbarian", Chu Man, was merely a pretext to warn Chu not to intervene into their respective spheres of influence. Chu intrusion was checked several times in three major battles with increasing violence - the Battle of Chengpu, the Battle of Bi and the Battle of Yanling; this resulted in the restorations of the states of Chen and Cai.
Changing tempo of war
After a period of increasingly exhaustive warfare, Qi, Qin, Jin and Chu finally met for a disarmament conference in 579 BC, where the other states essentially became satellites. In 546 BC, Jin and Chu agreed to yet another truce.
During the relatively peaceful 6th century BC, the two coastal states in today's Zhejiang, Wu and Yue, gradually grew in power. After defeating and banishing King Fu Chai of Wu, King Gou Jian of Yue (r. 496 BC-465 BC) became the last recognized overlord.
This era of peace was only a prelude to the maelstrom of the Warring States Period. The four powerful states were all in the midst of power struggles. Six elite landholding families waged war on each other in Jin. The Chen family was eliminating political enemies in Qi. Legitimacy of the rulers was often challenged in civil wars by various royal family members in Qin and Chu. Once all these power strugglers firmly established themselves in their dominions, the bloodshed among states would continue in the Warring State Period. The Warring States Period officially started in 403 BC when the three remaining elite families in Jin - Zhao, Wei and Han - partitioned the state; the impotent Zhou court was forced to recognized their authority.
List of overlords, or Ba
Traditionally, the Five Overlords of Spring and Autumn Period (春秋五霸 Chun1 qiu1 Wu3 Ba4) include:
- Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公)
- Duke Wen of Jin (晉文公)
- King Zhuang of Chu (楚莊王)
- Duke Mu of Qin (秦穆公)
- Duke Xiang of Song (宋襄公)
While some other historians suggest that the Five Overlords include:
- Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公)
- Duke Wen of Jin (晉文公)
- King Zhuang of Chu (楚莊王)
- King Fu Chai of Wu (吳王夫差)
- King Gou Jian of Yue (越王勾踐)
Order is not important.
List of prominent states
The name following the name of the state is the capital(En., TC. and SC.).
- Qi (state) 齊 - Linzi 臨淄 临淄
- Chu (state) 楚 - Ying 郢 郢
- Qin (state) 秦 - Xianyang 咸陽 咸阳
- Jin (state) 晉
- Lu (state) 魯 - Qufu 曲阜 曲阜
- Chen (state) 陳 - Chenqiu 陳丘 陈丘
- Cai (state) 蔡 - Shangcai 上蔡 上蔡
- Cao (state)
- Song (state) 宋 - Shangqiu 商丘 商丘
- Wei (state)魏
- Wu (state) 吳 - Suzhou 姑蘇 姑苏
- Yue (state) 越 - Kuaiji 會稽 会稽
- Huaguo 滑
- Zheng (state) 鄭 - Xinzheng 新鄭
List of important figures
Bureaucrats or Officers
- Guan Zhong (管仲), statesman and advisor of Duke Huan of Qi and regarded by some modern scholars as the first Legalist.
- Bo Pi, the corrupted bureaucrat under King He Lu and played important diplomatic role of Wu-Yue relations.
- Wen Zhong and Fan Li, the two advisors and partisans of King Gou Jian of his rally against Wu.
- Zi Chan, leader of self-strengthening movements in Zheng
Influential scholars
- Confucius
- Laozi or Lao tse, founder of Daoism
- Mozi, known as Motse (墨子 Mo4 Zi5) or "Mocius" (also "Micius") to Western scholars, founder of Mohism
Historians
Engineers
Wielders
Entrepreneurs and Commercial personnel
Generals, military leaders and authors
- Rang Ju, elder contemporary and possibly mentor of
- Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War
Assassins
Women and Beauties
- Lady of Li, concubine of Duke Xian of Jin and stepmother of Duke Wen of Jin
- Xi Shi, wife of Fan Li according to legend
- Mo Xie
See also: Hundred Schools of Thought
List of important events
770 B.C.E - the nobilities of the Zhou Dynasty supported King Píng of Zhou (周平王)as the new king of the Zhou Dynasty. King Píng moved the capital to luò yì (雒邑). The era of Eastern Zhou, or Spring Autumn, began. King Píng appointed the son of the nobility Yíng Qí (贏其) to the northwestern part of the Zhou Dynasty. He was named Duke Xiāng of Qin (秦襄公). The kingdom of Qin (秦) was born.
763 B.C.E - Duke Zhuang of Zheng (鄭莊公) attacked and destroyed the barbarian kingdom of hú (胡國). Duke Zhuang relied on his famous officer Zhài Zhòng (祭仲).
750 B.C.E - Duke Wén of Jin (晉文侯), Jī Chóu (姬仇), attached and destroyed the kingdom of Yú Chén Zhou (余臣周)
704 B.C.E - Duke of Chǔ (楚), Mǐ Xióng Tōng (羋熊通), saw the weakened power of the King of Zhou as an opportunty to break free from being a tributary state of the Zhou Dynasty and claimed the title of king himself. He announced the kingdom of Chǔ (楚國) and called himself King Wu of Chu (楚武王).
701 B.C.E - Duke Zhuang of Zheng (鄭莊公) died. His son Jī Hū (姬忽) succeeded the title of Duke and was known as Duke Zhāo of Zheng (鄭昭公). Because Lady Yōng (雍氏) of Song (宋國)was married to Duke Zhuang of Zheng and had a son named Ji Tū (姬突), the King of Song thought that he could extend influence in Zheng by helping to support a new ruler who had relations with Song. Zhài Zhòng (祭仲), who had the respect and influence in the state of Zheng, was lured and captured by Song and was forced to support Jī Tū as the successor to the throne of Zheng. Duke Zhāo of Zheng was forced down from his rank as Duke and fled. Jī Tū became the new ruler and was known as Duke Lì of Zheng (鄭厲公).
694 B.C.E - Duke Xiāng of Qi (齊襄公), Jiāng Zhu Er (姜諸兒), gathered many dukes at Shǒu Zhi (首止) and murdered Duke Huan of Lu (魯桓公).
686 B.C.E - Duke Xiāng of Qi (齊襄公) was assassinated. Jiāng Wú Zhī (姜無知) became the new Duke of Qi.
685 B.C.E - Duke of Qí Jiāng Wú Zhī (姜無知)was assassinated. Jiāng Xiǎo Bái (姜小白) became the new duke known as the famous Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公).
684 B.C.E Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公) appointed Guan Zhong (管仲) as Xiang (相), or prime minister.
681 B.C.E Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公) and Duke Zhuang of Lu (魯莊公), Ji Tong (姬同), met and negotiated at Kē (柯).
679 B.C.E Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公) invites and gather all of the dukes from central China and began his legend as the leader of the dukes. In the same year, the local ruler of the region of Qu Wo (曲沃) of the Jin State (晉), Ji Dai (姬代), murdered the Duke of Jin, Ji Fun (姬湣). Ji Dai bribes the King Li of Zhou (周釐王), Ji Wu (姬胡), and was officially appointed by the royal court as the new ruler of the Jin State. He was known as Duke Wu of Jin (晉武公).
668 B.C.E Duke Xain of Jin (晉獻公), who succeeded Duke Wu of Jin (晉武公), moved the Jin capital to Jiang (絳).
667 B.C.E King Hui of Zhou (周惠王), Ji Liang (姬閬), granted the titled of Ba (霸), or Overlord, to Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公). He continued to lead the alliance of dukes to serve and protect the Zhou Kingdom.
660 B.C.E Duke Cheng of Qin (秦成公) died. Ying Ren Hao (嬴任好) become the new Duke or Qin and was known as Duke Mu of Qin (秦穆公).
656 B.C.E Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公) lead Lu, Song, Zheng, Chen
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--UTeng Cheang 04:39, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
