Early years

As it has been said in a previous post, the first Chinese dynasty is supposed to be the Xia Dynasty (夏朝; ca. 2070 BC–ca. 1600 BC) but we do not have clear records of its existence.

Chinese history actually began with the Shang Dynasty (商朝 c. 1700 – c. 1046 BC). (It is also called by other name Yin, after the last capital near modern Anyang 安阳/Henan). Oracle bones with ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been radiocarbondated to as early as 1500 BC. Oracle bones and hundreds of ritual vessels findings have proved that at least the last part of the Shang was indeed a historical period.

The origins of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy developed during the Zhou Dynasty (周朝; 1045-256 BC). The Zhou Dynasty held real power until 770 BC. This period is referred as Eastern Zhou 東周 and it is considered 'feudal' due its similarity with medieval Europe. Zhou Dynasty just ruled from walled cities rather than castles. The Chinese term for the Zhou system is Fēngjiàn (封建) -when the dynasty was established the conquered land was divided into hereditary fiefs, the pyramidal system had its top in the Emperor or Son of Heaven.

The date of 770 BC as the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty and their losing of real power is due to the savage attack by the western "barbarian" tribes of Quanrong 犬戎 who sacked the eastern capital of Zongzhou and forced the Zhou to flee to their eastern capital of Chengzhou 成周 or Luoyang. The emperor conserved his title but was relegated to the capital limits and his activities were reduced to performing ceremonials. The fiefs become the fact independent and later on the fiefdoms declared themselves as kingdoms.

The period going from 770 BC until 475 BC is called Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時代) according with the title given by Confucius to his chronicles on that time, a big number of states coexisted then. From 475 BC onwards it is followed by the Warring States Period 战国時代 which lasted until 221 BC. This epoch is dominated by the fight between 7 or 8 powerful states which had been able to absorb all others.

The Zhou culture is apparently a mixture of different cultures of peoples that lived in the Wei River 渭水 valley. After leaving the Wei River plain to expand their realm, the Zhou people adopted keenly the culture of the subdued Shang people. Oracle bone divination, bronze casting for sacrificial purposes and burying rites were almost the same as the Shang rulers used to impose. Writing was first used to comment divination results on bones and to write down enfeoffments and events of great importance upon bronze vessels that were buried together with deceased nobles. But the Western Zhou also developed their own style in decorating vessels. In the first few centuries of the 1st millenium BC ornaments and vessel types became quite different from the Shang motifs earlier.

Historical events during the Western Zhou period were also written down upon bamboo strips that did not survive, but whose texts were transmitted through the centuries. The most important texts to the Zhou tradition became also the core texts of the later Confucian classics: The "Book of Documents" is a collection of speeches and discussions from the mythical Xia and Shang Dynasties to the end of Western Zhou period. The "Book of Songs" is a collection of hymns, critics and popular songs from the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods. The third great text is the "Book of Changes" (Yijing 易经), a manual for milfoil divination said to have been compiled by King Wen or the Duke of Zhou before Confucius.

In the Western Zhou period, a time of permanent warfare and state reforms, practical advisors were the most wanted teachers and the period was called The Hundred Schools of Thought (baijia 百家), no just the Golden Age of Chinese Thought, but arguably the only one in its history, when China experienced a great intellectual activity as thinkers and their schools disputed against each other. Free expression could not be suppressed by a single state official doctrine as usual in China.