Spring and Autumn Period
The
Spring and Autumn Period () 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.
China was
not considered an empire at this time. It wasn't until the first emperor of China,
Qin Shi Huang 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. 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.
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 neighbouring 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.
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 (bà 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).
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Urbanisation during the Spring and Autumn period. |
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 kuāng fú shè jì), 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.
See main article: Interstate relations during the Spring and Autumn period.During the period a complex system of interstate relations developed. It was partially structured upon the
Western Zhou system of
feudalism, but elements of
realpolitik were emerging. A collection of interstate customary norms and values, which can perhaps be loosely termed
international law, was also evident. As the operational and cultural areas of states expanded and intersected, diplomatic encounters increased.
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 recognize their authority.
Traditionally, the
Five Overlords of Spring and Autumn Period (春秋"霸
Chūn Qiū W" Bà) include:
*
Duke Huan of Qi (齊"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"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.
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 '陽 '阳:
Jin (state) 晉:
Lu (state) 魯 -
Qufu 曲阜 曲阜:
Chen (state) 陳; - Wanqiu 宛丘; 宛丘:
Cai (state) " - Shangcai 上" 上":
Cao (state):
Song (state) 宋 - Shangqiu 商丘 商丘:
Wei (state)魏:
Wu (state) 吳 -
Gusu 姑蘇 姑苏:
Yue (state) 越 - Kuaiji 會稽 会稽:
Hua (state) 滑:
Zheng (state) 鄭 - Xinzheng 新鄭:
Yan (state) 燕
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.:
Baili Xi (百里奚), famous prime minister of Qin.:
Bo Pi, （伯噽）the corrupted bureaucrat under King He Lu and played important diplomatic role of
Wu-
Yue relations.:
Wen Zhong文種 and
Fan Li范蠡, the two advisors and partisans of
King Gou Jian of his rally against Wu.:
Zi Chan, （子产）leader of self-strengthening movements in
ZhengInfluential scholarsConfucius（"子）:
Laozi （老子）or
Lao tse, founder of
Daoism:
Mozi, known as Motse (墨子 Mò Zǐ) or "Mocius" (also "Micius") to Western scholars, founder of
MohismHistorians:
Confucius（"子）
Engineers:
Mozi（墨子）:
Lu Ban（鲁班）
Wielders:
O Ye Zi, literally means
O the wielder and mentor of the couple
Gan Jiang and
Mo XieEntrepreneurs and Commercial personnel:
Fan LiGenerals, military leaders and authors:
Rang Ju, elder contemporary and
possibly mentor of:
Sun Tzu, （孙子）the author of
The Art of WarAssassins:
Yao Li, （要离）sent by He Lu to kill Qing Ji（庆忌）.:
Zhuan Zhu,（"渚） sent by He Lu to kill his cousin King Liao:
Mo XieSee also:
Hundred Schools of Thought770 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 ('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 Ch" (楚), Mǐ Xióng Tōng (羋熊通), saw the weakened power of the King of Zhou as an opportunity to break free from being a tributary state of the Zhou Dynasty and claimed the title of king himself. He announced the kingdom of Ch" (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
