Zhou Dynasty

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For other states and dynasties called Zhou, see Zhou Dynasty (disambiguation).
  • Dates: c. 1100-256 BCE
  • Chinese/Japanese: 周 (Zhou / Shuu)

The Zhou Dynasty, which followed the Shang Dynasty, was the third of China's legendary Three Dynasties. Though little historical evidence providing information about the dynasty survives, according to tradition, numerous customs, beliefs, and policies are said to have continued since the Zhou Dynasty.

The Western Zhou is said to have run from roughly 1100-771 BCE, succeeded by the Eastern Zhou (770-256 BCE), which is divided into the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history.

Fairly decentralized, the Zhou Dynasty operated as a quasi-feudal, multi-state system, often contrasted to the centralized, bureaucratic state established in the Han Dynasty, and maintained by every major dynasty since (with the obvious exceptions of periods of disunity, such as the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms which followed the fall of the Tang Dynasty).[1]

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Rulers of Zhou

Western Zhou

Eastern Zhou

Preceded by:
Shang Dynasty 		Zhou Dynasty
c. 1100-256 BCE? 		Succeeded by:
Qin Dynasty

References

  • K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual, Harvard University Press (1983), 133-134.
  1. ↑ Albert Craig, The Heritage of Chinese Civilization, Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 21-27.
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