The Penguin History of the World

The predominant regime that was to replace the Shang in the eleventh century BC is generally known as Zhou. It began as a smaller state which paid tribute to the Shang kings, but then confronted the bigger entity when – according to Chinese tradition – unreasonable demands were put to it. The Shang–Zhou transition sets the pattern in China of a cyclical change among dynasties: a righteous ruler acts according to the will of Heaven and establishes a great dynasty, which later becomes degenerate and ruled by evil men. This leading state is then confronted and crushed by a new righteous ruler, who has the will of Heaven on his side. Since the histories of the preceding dynasty were generally written by the dynasty that succeeded it, it is not hard to imagine how the cyclical pattern was first established. What we know about the Zhou succeeding the Shang is that the armies of the two states met in a great battle at Muye in central Henan in 1045 BC. The Zhou won a decisive victory, probably because of their use of advanced types of chariots: ‘the field of Muye was so broad, the sandalwood chariots were so gleaming, the teams of four were so pounding’, says a contemporary source. The Zhou may have been recipients of the mandate of Heaven – a concept they developed – but advanced military technology also did them much good.

The state which the Zhou kings erected set the form of statehood in China for a very long time to come. Although there were still other states that in part co-operated and in part tried to join together against the predominance of the Zhou, the new dynasty became the model for any Chinese government, in part because it lasted so long (its remnants were not fully extinguished until the third century BC), but also because it set a new framework for efficiency and justice. It spent 275 years at one capital, Fenghao, known later as Chang’an (today’s Xian), establishing it as China’s main capital for nearly 2,000 years. Already in the first generation of its rule, the Zhou expanded all the way to the eastern coast of China, creating a much larger state than the region had ever known before.

Duke Zhou, the adviser of his nephew the first Zhou king, created the Chinese ideal of a bureaucratic government based on the king having received the mandate of Heaven. In order to keep it, the king had to reign justly and for the good of the whole state. The officials of the state had to be trained in moral virtue and show proven ability in governance. The classic books on ethics and statesmanship were written to help in such training. The Zhou were obsessed with the creation of a functioning meritocracy, and so concerned with the written record that even lower-level appointments were recorded in triplicate (which is one of the reasons why we know so much about them). They also gradually changed the rites of the Shang into large-scale state rituals intended to show the righteousness of the ruler and his links with his people and his ancestors. It was an ideology that the empires that followed would take over and make their own.

The concept of spreading influence by setting an example of righteous rule also originated with the Zhou kings. Even though the dynasty expanded its own domain (at least up to 771 BC), its main role in the creation of China was to form a pattern for what civilized government consisted of. ‘The earlier kings,’ says a later commentary, ‘took pains to exert their spiritual qualities, thereby persuading those who were distant to come into their own fold. The many states brought them gifts, and their leaders came in from all quarters, as if they were close kinsfolk.’ The Zhou spread their influence by conquest, but also by their ability to achieve a cultural hegemony that was to long outlast their political predominance.