The Warring States Period: Historical Background

This chapter starts with introducing major textual, archeological, and paleographical sources for the history of the Warring States period. It then focuses on the inter-state dynamics following the de facto dissolution of the state of Jin in 453 bce and up to the Qin unification of 221 bce. In particular, the chapter explores the rise and fall of the state of Wei as the major hegemonic power in the end of the fifth and the first half of the fourth centuries bce; the subsequent rise of Qin and attempts to block it through formation of anti-Qin alliances; and, finally, the collapse of these alliances and the acceleration of Qin’s territorial expansion in the third century bce.

Western Zhou Government and Society

This chapter introduces the state structure and social organization of the Western Zhou period as it is today understood through paleographical, archaeological, and textual sources. Considering the role that the Western Zhou kingdom played in the history of political thought in China, the chapter addresses the classic images of Western Zhou society and governance that have been shaped by ideological constructs, both ancient and modern, as well as how recent work and discoveries have complicated those images. It considers the theoretical underpinnings of Western Zhou kingship, social organization, resource management, and military administration, and, introducing a few of the regional (theoretical) sub-states of the Western Zhou kingdom, it addresses how the practical implementation of those concepts may have varied from time to time and place to place.

Shang Belief and Art

This chapter identifies Shang religion as based on a belief in yi異 metamorphism and analyzes this in connection with the Great Settlement Shang at ancient Yinxu (Anyang), Henan. The chapter analyzes why the Shang may be identified with a religio-social system of “institutionalized shamanism,” theocratic hegemony, and sifang (four-directional) cosmology, in addition to identifying standardized rules for representation in art. The chapter discusses how Shang belief and religious practice reveal themselves in both visual formats and oracle bone terminology, and how the Shang embraced metamorphic belief, worshipped an empowered dead, and created a visual vocabulary of mnemonic royal power symbols. The chapter approaches data from a holistic point of view, including written, archaeological, and visual materials.

The Spread of Erlitou Yazhang to South China and the Origin and Dispersal of Early Political States

One of the major offshoots of the Jade Age and urban evolution of Erlitou is the role played by jade and stone as symbols of political order. The chapter considers how specific attributes of yazhang may be used to differentiate capital and secondary sites of influence in terms of state formation and Erlitou’s role in early Chinese history. Analysis of yazhang unearthed in East Asia suggests that one major and representative type and style of yazhang, Erlitou VM3:4, had a significant influence in south China during the Erlitou period. Erlitou appears to have had direct contact with the Jinsha culture in today’s Sichuan in southwest China and had relatively indirect interactions with southeast China’s Tai Wan culture in Hong Kong and the Hulinshan culture in Fujian. The replication of Erlitou yazhang in south China can be seen as representative of a political order spreading from a primary state to secondary states. Through analyses of Erlitou yazhang and other material evidence, it is possible to understand the political symbolism used in the early state. This is also significant in illustrating how states and political systems originated in wider East Asia. While the search for written evidence from the Xia period continues, archaeological remains and artifacts can provide scientific and crucial evidence to substantiate the early political state in China.

Settlements, Buildings, and Society of the Erlitou Culture

The Erlitou culture formed the earliest Chinese territorial state by the early part of the second millennium bce. This chapter looks at settlement patterns, building types, and social conditions for the development of a capital site and territorial secondary sites. Erlitou cultural settlements comprise 3 levels with the Erlitou site itself as a first level settlement, level 1, at the top as a capital city. Large-scale rammed earth architectural foundations identify a ruling elite and complex social functions. Based on an analysis of the settlement system and major scale architecture construction, tomb locations, material goods, and resource controls, trade patterns and resource control Erlitou site and its society served as a sophisticated capital complex.

The shi, diplomats, and urban expansion during the Warring States Period

The shi, or “knights,” were not a coherent class during the Warring States period, though figures identified as such were central to the social, political, and cultural dynamism of the era. As the fragmentary states of the early Zhou era politically consolidated, the nature of the aristocracy changed. The aristocracy bifurcated into a steeply divergent populace of “kings” and their kin at the top and the mass of undifferentiated knights far below. Although not exactly a period of shi ascendancy, it was, at the individual level, a time of very fluid social mobility. State governments grew in power to the point of being able to determine the power and status even of hereditary aristocrats. All social positions became gauged in relation to their utility for the state. Low-born knights could rise to positions of high power and status through meritorious service to the state. Diplomacy became a field in which talents for strategy or rhetoric could earn great merit. Some of the most influential figures of the Warring States were humble knights that distinguished themselves as diplomats. Social fluidity was likewise embodied in urbanization. As the Warring States saw rapid population growth, technological advancement, and economic specialization cities grew in size and changed in character. Where they had once been principally military and cult centers, they evolved into centers of commerce and manufacturing in which new communities and social institutions took shape.

Change and continuity at the intersection of received history and the material record during the Warring States Period

This chapter concentrates on archaeologically recovered paleographic and material culture remaining from the pre-imperial and early imperial periods in China. One part of the chapter treats capitals and the settlements and cities that preceded them. Another section considers the systems of household registration that, beginning circa fourth century bce, created and maintained records of the population. Those records allowed officials to keep track of population statistics. Another section looks at the information we have about practices connected with oaths and covenants. Whether between states or within polities and groups, oaths and covenants were an important means of affirming agreement and creating cohesion. The final section concerns tallies, which archaeologists have recovered in various forms. Tallies were a way of proving authority and establishing trust and are known from examples in shapes ranging from tigers and dragons to bamboo.

Institutional reforms and reformers during the Warring States Period

This chapter explores the transformation of the Warring States–period polities from loose aristocratic entities into centralized bureaucratic states. It focuses primarily on the reforms in the state of Qin associated with Shang Yang and his followers. The reforms resulted in the formation of an assertive agro-managerial state, able to mobilize its population to agriculture and warfare. Shang Yang overhauled Qin’s social system, replacing the pedigree-based order with the system of the ranks of merit, which allowed sociopolitical and economic advancement to individuals who excelled on the battlefield or in increasing their grain yields. The accompanying centralization and profound bureaucratization of Qin’s society had dramatically improved the state’s control over its human and material resources. The newly emerging assertive and all-reaching state allowed Qin to successfully subjugate its rivals. In the long term, however, an excessively activist state proved to be a liability once imperial unification was achieved.

Historiography, thought, and intellectual development during the Springs and Autumns Period

This chapter explores the historiography and political thought of the Springs and Autumns period. It analyzes major historical texts from the period—the Springs and Autumns Annals (Chunqiu) and the Zuo zhuan—addressing their nature, audience, and (especially in the case of the Zuo zhuan) the nature of their primary sources. The multiplicity of genres in the Springs and Autumns period historiography is contrasted with the proliferation of didactic anecdotes as major building blocks of historical knowledge during the subsequent Warring States period. The second part of the chapter explores major aspects of the Springs and Autumns period’s political thought as reflected in the Zuo zhuan. The marked aristocratic nature of this thought is contrasted with major trends of the subsequent Warring States period. The discussion focuses on the views of multistate order, concepts of rulership and ruler-minister relations, and views of social hierarchy and the importance of the ritual system.

Bronze Vessels: Style, Assemblages, and Innovations of the Western Zhou Period

This chapter, by employing securely dated vessels, discusses stylistic characteristics of three phases of Western Zhou bronzes in the Zhou metropolitan centers in the Wei River Valley in Central Shaanxi and Luoyang area in Henan. The assemblage of bronze vessels in tombs and caches is also discussed in order to understand Zhou ancestral sacrifices and ritual practices and their changes from the Early to Middle and Late Western Zhou periods. The Zhou interaction with local communities through regional states and military posts beyond the center also stimulated the rise of exotic bronze vessel types inspired by local ceramic traditions.