The Zhou feudal system

Question 1

zhou feudal system

Answer 1

• The feudal states were not contiguous but rather were scattered at strategic locations surrounded by potentially dangerous and hostile lands.
• The scattered feudal states gradually acquired something like territorial solidity as the neighbouring populations established closer ties with them, either by marriage or by accepting vassal status
• The familial relationship among the nobles gradually was diluted during the Chunqiu period
• In the first half of the Chunqiu period, the feudal system was a stratified society, divided into ranks as follows: the ruler of a state; the feudal lords who served at the ruler’s court as ministers; the shi (roughly translated as “gentlemen”) who served at the households of the feudal lords as stewards, sheriffs, or simply warriors; and, finally, the commoners and slaves.
• The first important change occurred with the advent of interstate leadership. For several decades after 722 bce, the records chiefly show battles and diplomatic maneuvers among the states on the central plain and in the middle and lower reaches of the Huang He valley
• The first to achieve this leadership was Huangong (reigned 685–643 bce), the ruler of the state of Qi on the Shandong Peninsula.
• After his death the state of Qi failed to maintain its leading status. The leadership, after a number of years, passed to Wengong of Jin (reigned 636–628 bce), the ruler of the mountainous state north of the Huang He. Under Wengong and his capable successors, the overlordship was institutionalized until it took the place of the Zhou monarchy.
• A further change began in the 5th century bce, when the states of Wu and Yue far to the south suddenly challenged Chu for hegemony over the southern part of China, at a time when the strong state of Jin was much weakened by an internecine struggle among powerful magnates.