High Level Overview of Chinese History: Zhou Dynasty III
By Kanguole - Own work, using Modern coastline, lakes and rivers from Natural Earth CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149446217
After the expansionism of the early period, the middle period beginning during the reign of King Mu who was the 5th king and reigned either 976-922 or 953-918 BCE, shifted into a defensive state, especially toward their eastern boundaries. Additionally, the spread of the kingdom and the increasing of the family size of the king with each generation necessitated the development of a formalized bureaucracy between the elite houses and also resulted in reforms within the military, changes in official titles, and how land was distributed.
By Sailko - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64804040
There also appears to have been changes to the state religion at the time that was reflected in the style and types of bronze ritual vessels. Some of these changes include adding a diety named TiÄn 夊, which means 'heaven', who is not attested in the Shang inscriptions. Scholars are not sure if this is the same as the Shang DĂŹ ĺ¸ or whether TiÄn was a different deity with a different role. There was a reduction of burying attendants with their lord when their lord died as well as the elimination of additional human sacrifice. Grain offerings were added to burials and the vessels became larger in this middle period, coming in matching sets and quite often with matching inscriptions. The previous goblets and pourers were changed for hu, pear-shaped vessels that could reach 50 cm tall. Ancestor warship and sacrifices were central to the religious practices of the Zhou, though our records of the practices come from the Warring States period 'and reflect an idealization of the centuries-earlier Western Zhou', so our direct evidence is from the vessels they used and what they had inscribed on them. One of the Minor Court Hymns of the Odes called 'Thorny caltrop' ChÇcĂ ćĽč¨ identifies three roles during a 'communal feast during which the spirits of deceased ancestors were invited to descend from heaven to the ancestral temple to communicate with the living'. These roles were 'pious descendant' xiĂ o sĹŤn ĺĺŤ, who acted in as the head of the lineage, the 'august impersonator' huĂĄng shÄŤ çĺ°¸, an adolescent chosen to represent the deceased ancestors, and the 'officiating invoker' gĹng zhĂš 塼çĽ, the person responsible for mediating between the two during the rituals.
Within society, the Zhou introduced clan names xĂŹng ĺ§ among the elite and identified 'broad kinship groups by their maternal origins'. This might have been to 'regulate marriages between the different ethnic groups of the Wei valley that formed the pre-dynastic Zhou' with nearly a dozen clans repeatedly mentioned for intermarrying in the bronze inscriptions. The next layer of the family was the lineage shĂŹ ć°, which was typically only used for elite males, while elite women were only referred to by their clan name and personal name mĂng ĺ. Commoners had neither clan nor lineage names. Leadership of a lineage was passed from father to eldest son of the primary wife. Branches that might form were supposed to follow the primary lineage. Land that that was bestowed by the king came to be seen as the property of the lineage and could be doled out how the head saw fit to the families of the lineage. Land could also be transferred to settle lawsuits or tax debt.
By Kanguole - Own work, using Major rivers from CIA World DataBank IIContours CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=169284483
The next four kings are not well attested, though the second, Yih, was succeeded by one of his brothers who became King Xiao. There might have been a forceful removal of Xiao by Yih's son, who became King Yi, with some time where they continued as rivals, but most of that has been lost to time with only a few mentioned in the inscriptions on bronze pieces that used two different calendars since the calendar's years were tied to the king's reign, but by the time of King Yi's grandson, that was smoothed to a linear transmission. Another event that was recorded in the Bamboo Annals by Sima Qian, who lived from about 145-86 BCE, is that King Yi, who reigned from either 865-858 or 885-878 BCE, 'boiled the Duke of Qi (in eastern Shandong) in a cauldron', which 'indicate[d] the waning authority of the Zhou king'. Not long after, the Chu, another Chinese territory, attacked, reaching as far as the Luo River before they were driven off.
King Li, who followed King Yi, was the first king in what is known as the Late Period of the Western Zhou. He mounted defensive campaigns in the northwest and east and was even recorded as being driven out of his capital, so he is viewed in a negative light. The sources aren't clear on whether the revolt he was dealing with began with the peasants or the nobles, though there is agreement that his infant son was barely rescued from the mob. King Li died in exile and his son became King Xuan. According to the texts that have survived, he 'acted quickly to secure the state'. He pushed westward and appointed successful generals to the eastern front and he also had multiple other victories, though there were 'succession struggles in some of the old Zhou states' he had to deal with.
King You reportedly began his reign 'with ominous portents' such as 'factional struggles within the Zhou court'. He was killed during his 11th year by a Quanrong attack from the west and ended the Western Zhou period, but not the overall Zhou dynasty.
