Zhou Dynasty

1. Zhou Dynasty By: Haley Hernandez Jarrett Sippola Jim Edgar Lauren Turner Sara Cody Will Gordy

2. About 1122 – 256 B.C.E. Pronounced (joh) Territories started in west China and gradually expanded east

3. Politics • Emperor rules by mandate of heaven, the belief that dynasties will rise and fall according to the will of heaven, or the ancestors • Emperor • lived in the forbidden city (away from all others) • in full control but bound by duty • had few slaves • “The Son of Heaven” • Political authority controlled by Confucian values • Zhou Philosophy • Concept of heaven emerged • Universal force • Chose the emperor to rule (moral force) • If the emperor was evil, heaven would send natural disasters as a warning. If he didn’t heed the warnings then heaven would withdraw its mandate. Social and political order would break down and there would be a revolution.

4. Culture • Technology • Silk from silk worms • Iron (instead of bronze) • Copper for coins • Acupuncture • Horseback communication • Chariots and mounted cavalry • Architecture • Irregular walls of rammed earth for defense • Used earth and timber for many buildings • Some multistory buildings • Starting of Chinese bracketing system • Replaced roof tiles with thatch • Started using bricks • Science • Gan and Shi’s Astronomy Book • Mo Jing (physics, MoZi) • Art • Silk paintings • Murals • Musical instruments were still developing

5. Economics • “Ceremonial Lords of the Kingdoms” • Warfare between territories • Lost control of some territories in 700 B.C.E. • Legalism - strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, especially to the letter rather than the spirit. • 4th century B.C.E. • Agriculture • Peasants planted crops • Planted crops in a square and the peasant’s crops would be planted on the outside and the emperor’s crops were on the inside • Zhou society was based on agriculture

6. Resources http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/zhou.html