CHIN 50 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Book Of Documents, King Zhou Of Shang, Chinese Bronze Inscriptions
Document Summary
The zhou conquest and ancient thought and traditions. The zhou observe the conjunction of five planets in the sky in 1059 bce. Zhou conquer shang in 1045 bce under the next zhou king, king wu. The duke of zhou comes to power and consolidates zhou territorial rule. Eastern zhou, 770-256 bce (weaker, constant destructive warfare, zhou had nominal control) Concept invented by the zhou dynasty to justify its conquest of the shang. Heaven in the highest deity, granted the right to rule to only one dynasty at a time. The zhou believed that the shang lost the right to rule. The zhou dynasty referred to its king as the son of heaven. The zhou devised a system of fiefdoms. The zhou king would send members of the family to rule over smaller domains. Called lords, which was a hereditary position. Allowed the zhou to consolidate control over their territory. Represents an advance in record keeping technology/techniques.
