Zhou Dynasty: Encyclopedia II - Zhou Dynasty - Western and Eastern Zhou

Zhou Dynasty - Western and Eastern Zhou

Initially the Ji family was able to control the country firmly. In 771 BC, after King You had replaced his queen with a concubine Baosi, the capital was sacked by the joint force of the queen's father, who was the powerful Marquess of Shen, and the barbarians. The queen's son Ji Yijiu was proclaimed the new king by the nobles from the states of Zheng, Lü, Qin and the Marquess of Shen. The capital was moved eastward in 722 BC to Luoyang in present-day Henan Province.

Because of this shift, historians divide the Zhou era into Western Zhou (西周, pinyin Xī Zhōu) from late 10th century BC to late 9th century up until 771 BC and Eastern Zhou (Traditional Chinese: 東周 Simplified Chinese: 东周, pinyin: Dōng Zhōu) from 770 up to 221 BC. The beginning year of Western Zhou has been disputed - 1122 BC, 1027 BC and other years within the hundred years from late 12th century BC to late 11th century BC have been proposed. Chinese historians take 841 BC as the first year of consecutive annual dating of the history of China, based on the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Eastern Zhou divides into two subperiods. The first, from 722 to 481 BC, is called the Spring and Autumn Period, after a famous historical chronicle of the time; the second is known as the Warring States Period.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Western and Eastern Zhou", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki