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Chin. Chunqiu Shidai, 722-481 BCE

Dominic Schafflinger

The history of China begins with the Late Zhou Dynasty, also called the Eastern Zhou Period, that is sub-classified into the Spring and Autumn Period ( Chunqiu Shidai , 722-481 BCE) and the Warring States Period ( Zhanguo Shidai, 481-221- BCE). The legendary Sage Kings of ancient times are probably a myth, and the Xin-, Shang- and Early Zhou Dynasty left written sources (mostly bronze inscriptures) but not in the sense of historiography, so dates, stories and the connection between events are missing. This lastet until the Spring and Autumn Period, which came along with the downfall of the Zhou Dynasty.

The Zhou kings were not ruling a centralised state in a modern sense, their empire was more or less a conglomerate of independent princedoms, ruled by relatives of the emperor. Like in European early middle ages, the emperor (or king) was traveling around to keep up the oath‘s of his nobles, who governed properties by there own. These nobles often disputed their controversies by war and where bound to the emperor only by tribute and the military services. Even though the Zhou emperors possessed no centralised bureaucratic and military control over their Kingdom, the system lasted from their ascent to the throne in about 1050 BCE until 842 BCE, when big uprisings and riots took place, and the common folk brought down the the kong, or to say it in a Chinese term, it withdrew him the mandate of heaven.

By reason of bureaucratic inefficiency and weakness of the Zhou kings, slowly the regents of the kingdoms were able to gain more power and competed on each other for more land and property.

Xinhong summarises the effects on the common folk as follows:

„The old order of social life was being destroyed and a new one was advancing, while people were left in endless suffering and misery, husband being torn from wife, and wife being forced to leave husband; the rich enjoying their luxury, while the poor had nothing to rely on.“

With the decline of the Zhou, times became very unstable, there was no functioning government and the right of the mighty one ruled. Chinese history over the next 2000 years classified it with one voice as autumn of antiquity, not as spring in contradiction to his sonorous name, the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BCE). But it was most likely exactly this chaos, that created a period of cultural blossoming. It was the progress of a new order. The chaos and disorder of that unstable times brought forward many great thinkers, who were not even researching the cause of all that chaos, suffering and disorder, but also showing ways out of it. These times were the cradle of Chinese Philosophy and the age of great thinkers. Confucius, Laotse, Meng Tse, Dschuang Tse, Sunzi and many others. Along with this legendary persons came their books, Laotse‘s Dao de Jing , Confucius Analects, Sunzi‘s Art of War and many others.

Dominic Schafflinger, 11.4.2018

www.daoconcepts.at

Related Literature

Gentz , Joachim (2001): Das Gongyang-zhuan. Auslegung und Kanonisierung der Frühlings- und Herbstannalen (Chunqiu) . Wiesbaden.

Hsiao , Kung-chuan (1979): History of Chinese Political Thought, Volume 1: From the Beginnings to the Sixth Century, A.D. Princton.

Hsu , Cho-Yun (1999): The Spring and Autumn Period. In: Loewe, Michael / Shaugnessy, Edward (Hg.): The Cambridge History of Ancient China. From the Origins of Civilisation to 221 B.C. Cambridge u.a. S. 545 -586.

Ladstätter , Otto/ Linhart , Sepp (1983): China und Japan. Die Kulturen Ostasiens. Wien.

Liang , Cai (2010): Who said, “Confucius composed the Chunqiu”? —The genealogy of the “Chunqiu” canon in the pre-Han and Han periods. In: Frontiers of History in China. Vol. 5. Iss. 3. P363-385.

Pines , Yuri (2002): Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual Life in the Chunqiu Period, 722–453 B.C.E. Honolulu.

Van der Loon , P. (1965): The ancient chinese chronicles and the growth of historical ideals. In: Beasley, W.G. / Pulleyblank E.G. (Ed.): Historians of China and Japan. London. S.24-30.