Economy and Society in the Western Zhou

The conquest of the Shang by the Zhou marked the beginning of the second known dynasty in Chinese history. The origin of this dynasty is obscure, shrouded in legend and fantasy (Creel, 1970; Wheatley, 1971; Hsu and Linduff, 1988: 33–67). The Zhou once lived under the shadow of the Shang dynasty, 1 but they gradually built up their power. By 1122 BC 2 King Wu led a coalition of tribes and successfully overthrew the Shang dynasty. 3 In the subsequent years numerous military expeditions took place, and the Zhou expanded its territorial control to the further south and east. Eventually it occupied approximately half the area of present China. As the longest dynasty ever (approximately 900 years), it fundamentally influenced the later developments of Chinese history. ‘Its enduring influence is such that for historians it is often difficult to determine whether a characteristic under discussion is that of the Zhou or that of the Chinese’ (Huang, 1988: 16). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.