Zhou Dynasty Research Paper

The Zhou dynasty was in power between the years of 1046 - 256 BCE. It was longest dynasty. It came after the Shang dynasty. The Qin dynasty took it over and ended it. It ended in 256 BCE when the Qin state took over the city of Chengzhou. The Zhou dynasty was split into two different periods ; the western Zhou, (1046 - 771 BCE, and the eastern Zhou (770-256) BCE. Many people who developed the Chinese culture lived during the Zhou dynasty like Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, and Mozi. The Zhou dynasty was named after the plain the Zhou area was located on called the Plains of Zhou.

The Zhou people were originally from the longshan Neolithic culture but they still spoke Chinese. Thought the years they migrated to north China in the lower Wei river valley. There they adapted to the Shang culture who at the time were the current rulers. The they built a city on a area called the plain of Zhou. The Zhou justified their rule by claiming that the Shang leader was no longer the Mandate of Heaven because of how he wasn't ruling correctly. The Mandate of Heaven is the

The Zhou dynasty had a feudal system so the emperor divided the land into fiefs and made them ruled by certain nobles which were usually his relatives.

The religion in the Zhou dynasty was based mainly on the two Chinese philosophy's ;Confucianism from Confucius who lived in 551 to 479 BC, and Taoism from the philosopher Lao Tzu who lived between the years of 600 to 200 BC.

The economic structure of the Zhou dynasty was centered around agriculture. The iron tipped oxdrawn plows made the irrigation better which also improved agriculture. When the agriculture improved it also increased the population and the increased population made traders and merchants emerge. Both the Zhou dynasty and the southern parts of China isolated themselves from trade. However they did interpret bronze as a