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This period ended when the capital was moved eastward. The first period of Zhou rule, during which the Zhou held undisputed power over China, is known as the Western Zhou period.

Duke of Zhou: A regent to the king who established the feudal system, and held a lot of power during the Western Zhou period.

Defining characteristics include direct ownership of resources, personal loyalty, and a hierarchical social structure reinforced by religion.

feudal system: A social system based on personal ownership of resources and personal fealty between a suzerain (lord) and a vassal (subject).

Western Zhou period: The first period of Zhou rule, during which the Zhou held undisputed power over China (1046-771 BCE).

Over time, the king grew weaker, and the lords of the feudal system grew stronger, until finally, in 711 BCE, one lord joined forces with an invading group of barbarians and killed the king.

Under the feudal system, the monarchy would reward loyal nobles with large pieces of land.

During the Western Zhou period, the focus of religion changed from the supreme god, Shangdi, to “Tian,” or heaven advances were made in farming technology and the feudal system was established.

The first period of Zhou rule, during which the Zhou held undisputed power over China, is known as the Western Zhou period.

Under the initial period of the Zhou Dynasty (called the Western Zhou period), a number of innovations were made, rulers were legitimized under the Mandate of Heaven, a feudal system developed, and new forms of irrigation allowed the population to expand. However, the Mandate of Heaven philosophy carried on throughout ancient China.

The Zhou ruled until 256 BCE, when the state of Qin captured Chengzhou. The Zhou needed to erase the various small states of prehistoric China from history, and replace them with the monocratic Xia Dynasty in order for their Mandate of Heaven to seem valid (i.e., to support the claim that there always would be, and always had been, only one ruler of China). The need for the Zhou to create a history of a unified China is also why some scholars think the Xia Dynasty may have been an invention of the Zhou. The gods’ blessing was given instead to the new ruler under the Zhou Dynasty, which would rule China for the next 800 years. In other words, the Zhou believed that the Shang kings had become immoral with their excessive drinking, luxuriant living, and cruelty, and so had lost their mandate.

The Zhou claimed that their rule was justified by the Mandate of Heaven. Instead, rulers were expected to be good and just in order to keep the Mandate. The Mandate of Heaven did not require a ruler to be of noble birth, and had no time limitations. The Chinese Character for “Tian”: The Chinese character for “Tian,” meaning “heaven,” in (from left to right) Bronze script, Seal script, Oracle script, and modern simplified. The Zhou established authority by forging alliances with regional nobles, and founded their new dynasty with its capital at Fenghao (near present-day Xi’an, in western China).

They largely had the support of the Chinese people: Di Xin (the final king of the Shang Dynasty) had become cruel, spent state money on drinking and gambling, and ignored the state. This was a battle between Shang and Zhou clans, over the Shang’s expansion. In 1046 BCE, the Zhou, a subject people living in the western part of the kingdom, overthrew the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye. Good rulers were allowed to rule under the Mandate of Heaven, while despotic, unjust rulers had the Mandate revoked. Mandate of Heaven: The Chinese philosophical concept of the circumstances under which a ruler is allowed to rule.Battle of Muye: The battle that resulted with the Zhou, a subject people living in the western part of the kingdom, overthrew the Shang Dynasty.Some scholars think the earlier Xia Dynasty never existed-that it was invented by the Zhou to support their claim under the Mandate that there had always been only one ruler of China.They used this Mandate to justify their overthrow of the Shang, and their subsequent rule. The Zhou created the Mandate of Heaven: the idea that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China at a time, and that this ruler had the blessing of the gods.

In 1046 BCE, the Shang Dynasty was overthrown at the Battle of Muye, and the Zhou Dynasty was established.