Brief introduction of Zhou Dynasty

Following the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty was established by the hard work of two generations of Ji Fajing, the leader of the tribe surnamed Ji in the Jingshui and Weishui basins in Northwest China (now Baoji, Shaanxi).

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Western Zhou Dynasty:

Western Zhou Dynasty

Ji Fa is a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. According to historical records, Emperor Hu, one of the five emperors, was the great grandson of the Yellow Emperor. Emperor Hu married four imperial concubines: the yuan imperial concubine Ju Zi, the second imperial concubine Chen Feng, the second imperial concubine Rong, and the second imperial concubine Tai. The fourth imperial concubine, Tai, is a descendant of Yan Emperor, surnamed Jiang Mingyuan. One day, Jiang Yuan and Emperor Hu went to the suburbs to worship the heaven. They were excited and pregnant. They gave birth to a son. They thought it was unknown. On the way, horses and cattle passed by without stepping on it. They also wanted to be placed in the forest. They happened to meet many people in the forest, and then they were abandoned on the ice in the canal. Many birds spread their wings and covered it. Jiang Yuan thought he was God and took it back for nurturing. Because he wanted to abandon it at the beginning, he named it abandon. When he was a child, he was good at planting hemp and Shu. When he grew up, he would better cultivate agriculture. When Emperor Yao knew it, he was promoted to be a farmer official. Because he had made contributions to educating the people about farming (color), he was granted Tai (now Wugong County, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province), and was named Houji. Later generations will be agricultural officials.

Zhou tribe often moved to Zhouyuan at the foot of Qishan mountain (today’s Jingdang and ZHUJIAZHUANG in Qishan, Shaanxi Province, and huangxiong and Famen in Fufeng County) because they often avoided the invasion of neighboring nomadic tribes and moved to their places of residence. They cleared vegetation and reclaimed land in Zhouyuan. In order to defend the enemy, they also built a city wall. After nearly 400 years of operation by the three generations of Gu Gongfu, Ji Li and Jichang, the Zhou tribe has become stronger.

Gu Gongyu’s father married Tai Jiang, the daughter of the Tai clan, as his concubine. Born Ji Taibo, Ji Zhongyong and Ji Jili. Ji Jili married the second daughter of Zhiguo (now Runan, Zhumadian, Henan Province), Ren Guojun, and gave birth to a son named Jichang.

Gu Gongyu’s father was very fond of Ji Chang, the son of Ji Jili, the third son, and wanted to make Ji Jili the heir so that Ji Chang could succeed to the throne. Ji Taibo and Ji Zhongyong fled to the south to avoid their brothers. Later, they became prominent in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the spring and Autumn period, and they went north to dominate the kingdom of Wu for many times.

After the death of Gu Gongyu’s father, Ji Jili ascended the throne. According to the historical book “ancient bamboo annals”, the seasonal calendar followed the law of the ancient Duke, and many princes followed it. He also defeated Rong Di several times and was rewarded by Wu Ding, the king of Shang Dynasty.

During the reign of King wending of Shang Dynasty, Ji Jili was appointed a priest and was the head of Western princes. The country grew stronger and stronger, and finally he was jealous and killed by the king of Shang. After Ji Jili’s death, Ji Chang ascended the throne and was named Xibo (King Wen of Zhou).

After Ji Chang ascended the throne, he respected the old and loved the young, courted the virtuous and corporal, and many feudal states in the Shang Dynasty submitted to him. King Wen of Zhou attached great importance to the selection of talents, and Jiang Shang (Jiang Taigong) was the talent he found. According to legend, Jiang Shang was well read, knowledgeable and strategic in his early years, and once served as an official in Shang and Zhou dynasties. Because Shang Zhou was close to crafty people (ning), harmed loyal and good people, he resigned angrily and lived by slaughtering cattle and selling drinks. He heard that Xibo valued talents, so he fished by the Weishui River, hoping to see Xibo passing by here. One day, he really saw Xibo, and the two talked very opportunistically. Therefore, Jiang Shang returned with Xibo in the same car, and was awarded as a military division by Xibo, becoming the founding hero of the Zhou Dynasty.

With the help of Jiang Shang and others, Zhou tribe became stronger. The powerful Zhou tribe made the ministers of King Zhou of Shang very uneasy. They told King Zhou about the Zhou tribe, but king Zhou didn’t care. This is the peak period of King Zhou’s ignorance, indiscriminate killing of innocent people, and making the punishment of cannibalism. Xibo saw what king Zhou had done, sighed secretly, and was heard by a minister of King Zhou, Chong Bohu, who denounced Xibo. King Zhou arrested Xibo and locked him in Youli (today’s Tangyin, Henan). After the Minister of Xibo voted with King Zhou, he was released. After Xibo was released and returned home, he decided to crusade against Shang Zhou. He first led troops to conquer the state of Mizu (now Lingtai in Pingliang, Gansu Province), which was second only to the Shang Dynasty; In the western part of the Shang Dynasty, the largest vassal states were Chongguo (now Hu County in Xi’an, Shaanxi), Xirong, Ruan, Gonggong and other small countries. After several years of efforts, most areas of the Shang dynasty fell into the sphere of influence of the Zhou tribe, and there were two parts of the world. Just when the Zhou tribe was about to attack the Shang Dynasty, Xibo fell ill and died.

Xibo married Tai Si, the daughter of Si surname in the state of Shen (now Heyang, Weinan, Shaanxi Province), and gave birth to ten sons, including Ji YIKAO, Ji Fa (King Wu), Ji Dan (Duke of Zhou), Ji Xian (Uncle Guan), Ji du (Uncle CAI), and Ji Yu (Uncle Kang). Ji YIKAO was killed by the king of Shang when he was hostage.

After Xibo’s death, Ji Fa, King Wu of Zhou Dynasty, succeeded to the throne. Ji Fa inherited his father’s will and worshipped Jiang Shang as a military adviser. His brother, Zhou GongDan, called Gongshi (Xibo’s concubines) as an assistant to rectify internal affairs and expand military forces. Finally, in 1046 BC, he led 3000 soldiers of his tribe to unite Yong (today’s Shiyan Zhushan in the north of the lake), Shu (today’s Chengdu in Sichuan), Qiang (today’s northwest area), Mao (today’s Hanyuan in Ya’an, Sichuan), Peng (today’s Pengshan in Meishan, Sichuan) More than 50000 people from more than 800 tribes, large and small, such as PU (now Hubei and Jianghan basins), fought with 70000 troops of King Zhou in Muye. At that time, the main army of the Shang Dynasty was fighting with the Dongyi nationality. This time, the Shang army fighting with King Wu of Zhou were slaves temporarily summoned by King Zhou and prisoners captured from Dongyi. These people were fed up with the abuse of King Zhou at ordinary times and hated him very much. As soon as the two sides fought, they turned their spearheads, rebelled before the battle, and led the Zhou army into the capital of the Shang Dynasty. King Zhou fled to Lutai and burned himself to death.

The Shang Dynasty was overthrown, and Ji Fa established the Zhou Dynasty in the birthplace of the Zhou tribe, Haojing (now Weiqu Township, Chang’an, Xi’an, Shaanxi). At that time, the territory of the Zhou Dynasty extended to today’s Shandong in the East, Gansu in the west, the Yangtze Huaihe River Basin and Sichuan in the south, Inner Mongolia and Liaoning in the north, and established extensive ties with the surrounding nationalities. In order to ensure the ruling position of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou implemented the enfeoffment system. That is, to distribute the land and people of the Zhou Dynasty to relatives and generals, tribal leaders and ministers who made meritorious contributions to the war. Let them manage the land and people in their own land. These people who are sealed off are called princes and kings. The princes had hereditary rule in their fiefs, and had only the obligation to pay tribute to the dynasty regularly, lead the army to fight with the emperor and support each other among the princes, becoming a semi independent political entity.

King Wu of Zhou granted the military division Jiang Shang to the state of Qi (now Zibo, Shandong); Granted his younger brother Zhou GongDan to the state of Lu (now Qufu, Shandong); His younger brother Zhao Gong was granted divination in Yan state (now Beijing); Feng his younger brother was higher than the state of Bi (Xianyang, Shaanxi today); Seal his younger brother Xian in governing the country (now Zhengzhou, Henan); Granted his younger brother to spend his time in the state of CAI (now Shangcai in Henan); Granted his younger brother Zhenduo to Cao state (now Heze, Shandong); Granted his younger brother Yu to the state of Huo (now Hongdong, Shanxi); His younger brother was granted the title of Chengguo (now Ningyang, Shandong); Fifteen brother vassal states, including his brother Kang Shu Yu Wei state (now Ji County, Henan Province), and more than 40 vassal states with the same surname. According to Xunzi’s statistics at that time, the Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed 124 vassal states.

Because of the enfeoffment system, everyone got benefits. Therefore, for a period of time after Zhou extinguished the Shang Dynasty, there was no interest dispute within the Zhou Dynasty for the time being, and the political situation was relatively stable and peaceful, and even there was a short-term prosperity. The most prosperous time of the Zhou Dynasty was the time of King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou, which was called “the rule of Cheng Kang” in history.

During the reign of King Wu of Zhou Dynasty, the etiquette of sacrificing ancestors was determined. It is stipulated that people who avoid addressing their ancestors by their first names can only call them posthumous titles. Moreover, it is stipulated that people of low status cannot record merit and praise virtue to people of high status; Young people cannot remember merits and virtues to older people; Princes cannot remember merits and virtues to each other; Posthumous titles can only be pursued by the son of heaven, who was ordered by heaven. King Wu pursued the posthumous title of Gu Gongyu’s father as king Tai; The seasonal calendar is the king season; His father is King Wen.

After Chengkang, the national power was slightly richer, and the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty followed the old path of Shang and Zhou. King Zhao of Zhou Dynasty aggravated the exploitation of people with harsh punishments and suppressed people’s resistance and dissatisfaction. During King Mu of Zhou Dynasty, as many as 3000 articles of the criminal law were stipulated. Anyone who violated the criminal law would be punished by at least five kinds of punishments, such as stabbing words, cutting nose, gouging out eyes, beheading hands, cutting feet, etc., which were called “five punishments” in history.

In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty was more corrupt. During the reign of King li of Zhou Dynasty, he was greedy for money and profits, and exploited people more cruelly. He owned mountains, rivers, forests and Ze ba for himself, and forbid people to go up the mountains to chop firewood, hunt and fish in rivers, cutting off people’s sources of livelihood. He also sent people to monitor people’s words and actions, and killed anyone who wanted to be dissatisfied. In order to avoid persecution, people dare not talk to each other. When they meet acquaintances on the road, they just exchange glances and walk away. Although people dare not speak, they are angry.

In 841 BC, an armed rebellion of civilians finally broke out, and people rushed to the palace with weapons. King Li’s army also tried to resist, but it was outnumbered. Seeing the general trend, King li of Zhou took a small number of followers across the Yellow River and fled to swine (now Huozhou, Shanxi). Historically, it is called “civilian riots”.

After King Zhou Li fled, his son was still young, so his two uncles, Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao, temporarily exercised the royal power on his behalf, which was called “Republican governance” in history. Fourteen years later, King li of Zhou died in swine, and his son king Xuan of Zhou ascended the throne. King Xuan of Zhou was more enlightened than his father and made some reforms to the tyranny of King li of Zhou, which made the Western Zhou Dynasty barely survive. However, after the civil riots, the imperial court has been greatly weakened, and its authority over the following vassal states has not been as strong as before. The vassal states only respect the son of heaven in etiquette, and the Zhou Dynasty has fallen by this time.

During the reign of King xuanwang of Zhou Dynasty, earthquakes and droughts occurred continuously in the area of Haojing, and people’s life was extremely difficult. After the death of King Xuan, his son king Zhou you succeeded to the throne.

King Youwang of Zhou, like the previous tyrants, ignored the court and government, regardless of the life or death of the people, and indulged in female sex and eating, drinking and having fun all day. The minister Baoxing (descendants of Xia Yu, surnamed Si, monarch of Baoguo, and now Mianyang County in Hanzhong, Shaanxi) advised him that king you of Zhou would not listen, but put him in prison. In order to save him, baojiade bought a beautiful girl and taught her to sing and dance. Three years later, he named it “Baosi” and gave it to king you of Zhou in exchange for a reward. When Bao Si came to the palace, he was usually not good at talking and laughing. In order to please the beauty, king you of Zhou absurdly sent a reward: who can make Bao Si smile and reward 10000 liang of gold.

At that time, in the northwest of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a tribe called Gongrong (called “Zhuo” in the Western Zhou Dynasty and “Xiongnu” in the Warring States period), which was very powerful. In order to prevent the invasion of gunrong, the Zhou dynasty built dozens of beacon towers around Lishan (today’s Lintong District in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province). One tower is several miles away. When there is an enemy situation, light the beacon (smoke during the day and fire at night). Seeing the beacon, the Zhou army will be ready for battle, and the nearby princes will also bring troops to reinforce it.

In order to make Baosi smile, king you of Zhou listened to the idea of the sycophant minister Guo (state) Shi Fu. In the evening, king you of Zhou took Baosi up to Lishan and lit the beacon fire. When the nearby princes saw the beacon fire, they quickly led their troops and horses to support them. But at the foot of Lishan Mountain, when they saw the sound of drums and dances on the mountain, they stood in situ dumbfounded. Only then did king Zhou you tell everyone that nothing had happened, but that he was just setting off fireworks with the princess and asking everyone to go back. Baosi saw all kinds of soldiers coming in disorder, and then went away dejected. I didn’t know what king Zhou you was doing. King Zhou you told her the truth, and Baosi really smiled faintly. For this smile, king you of Zhou was very happy. He simply abolished the queen and wanted to kill crown prince Ji Xuanjiu, and made Baosi the queen and his son Ji Bofu the successor. The abolished Prince Ji Xuanjiu fled to the home of his grandfather Shen Hou (after Jiang and Boyi, now Nanyang, Henan).

When Shen Hou learned that his daughter was abolished and his grandson was chased, he was very angry, so he secretly contacted Gou Rong to invade Haojing. In 771 BC, the army of soldiers attacked Haojing. King you of Zhou ordered to light the beacon. The princes did not know whether it was true or false, and none of them came. The army of gunrong destroyed the guard of king you of Zhou, rushed into the palace, killed king you of Zhou, Guo Shifu, crown prince Ji Bofu, and Zheng Heng, Duke Ji you, who came to visit, and stole Baosi. When the princes in the vicinity learned the true situation and led the troops to arrive, the army of the dog army had ransacked all the gold and silver treasures looted by several generations of kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Finally, it set a fire and withdrew from Ho Jing, and the Western Zhou Dynasty was destroyed.

From the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty in 1046 BC by Jifa to the murder of king you of Zhou in 771 BC, the Western Zhou Dynasty had a total of twelve kings for 275 years.

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Western Zhou tombs:

According to historical books such as the book of changes and the book of Han, “the tombs of the Zhou Dynasty are not sealed or planted.”

During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, Bi Yuan, the governor of Shaanxi Province, after textual research, once made a monument to the tombs of King Ji Chang, King Wu Ji Fa, King Cheng Ji song, King Kang Ji Zhao in the territory of Zhou Yuan, and nearby King Mu Ji man, King Xuan Ji Jing, Duke Ji Dan of Zhou, Tai Gong Wang, Duke Lu bochi, and others. However, after textual research by later generations, there are many objections that the location of the Royal Mausoleum of the Zhou Dynasty should be in Zhouyuan, the birthplace of the Zhou Dynasty (now the north of the junction of Fufeng and Qishan in Baoji, Shaanxi Province), and Qiyi.

After the founding of the people’s Republic of China, a large number of tombs of the early Western Zhou Dynasty and hundreds of tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty were indeed found in the Zhouyuan site after investigation and trial excavation. Mainly distributed in Qishan Hejia; Fufeng Qijia, Zhuangbai, Yuntang and other villages, but most of them are small and medium-sized rectangular vertical burrows. In the early Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Western Zhou Dynasty, most of them were small tombs, usually with pottery, silver Ge and large copper bubbles. The larger tombs included bronze tripods, Xuan, you, Xuan, etc. Most of the tombs in the early and Middle Western Zhou Dynasty were medium-sized tombs, which were up to three to four meters long, two to three meters wide and four to five meters deep. Niches were dug at the head of the dead, with waist pits in the middle of the bottom of the tomb, and coffins and coffins in the chamber.

Pottery, bronzes, spears, spears, arrowheads and other weapons as well as other production and living tools were buried. Most of the late Western Zhou Dynasty were small tombs, and the funerary objects were mainly pottery. At this time, the ruling center of the Zhou Dynasty had been completely transferred to FengHao, and most of the nobles had not buried Zhou Yuan. As an important political center and the location of the ancestral temple of the Zhou Dynasty, there should be a royal tomb, but there has been no major archaeological discovery for many years. It is only known that there is the legendary Royal Tomb of Zhou Tai in the north of Qishan fort at the west end of Zhouyuan site. According to the “Yangcheng Evening News – Hong Kong, Macao and overseas edition” on June 7, 1996, a large burial pit with a depth of 12 meters and 6 meters was excavated in huangdui village, Fufeng County, in the north of the site, with more than 40 horses and more than 20 cars. The size, depth and number of chariots and horses killed in the chariots and horses pit are the only known tombs of the Zhou Dynasty, with the specification of the royal mausoleum. According to “Yi Zhou Shu”; “King Wu collapsed in the pickaxe, was buried in Qizhou, and was buried at the end”. According to Zhouyuan Museum, since the funeral was held in Qizhou, it should be buried nearby.

In February, 2004, when the relevant departments conducted a routine census of the Zhouyuan site, a large tomb group with the highest level in the two-week period was found in the zhougongmiao scenic spot. With the approval of the State Administration of cultural relics, Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology and the College of archaeology, culture and Museum of Peking University jointly formed an archaeological team to conduct a large-scale investigation, large-area drilling and rescue excavation in zhougongmiao area. A total of 22 tombs were drilled out, including 10 of the four tombs, four of the three, two and one tombs, and 14 burial pits.

Previously, due to the existing technical conditions and the difficulty of keeping underground cultural relics properly after being unearthed, the cultural relics law stipulated that all regions should not excavate high-level tombs such as royal tombs without authorization. This time, the excavation of the Zhougong temple was approved, mainly because the current information of the Zhou Dynasty is extremely limited, and a tomb of the king of the Zhou Dynasty has never been found or excavated before. Excavating the underground tombs of Zhougong temple is of great significance for filling and enriching the history of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. In the previous excavation process, achievements have been made, such as the discovery of thousands of bricks and tiles of the Zhou Dynasty, breaking the saying of “Qin bricks and Han bricks”, and advancing the history of bricks and tiles used in Chinese architecture by at least 600 or 700 years. In the preliminary investigation, it was found that about 400 pieces of oracle bone inscriptions contain military, war, sacrifice and names of people and places related to historical geography, which are inconsistent with the current history textbooks. The excavation of the tomb at the site of zhougongmiao may rewrite history. At present, archaeological excavations are under way.

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Brief list of Zhou Dynasty’s lineage:

Ji Qi, the son of emperor Ku, is to be examined for the year of birth and death and the burial place

Ji Bu Cave: Ji’s abandoned son, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

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Shang Dynasty:

Ji Ju: Son of Ji Bu cave, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji Gong Liu: the son of Ji Ju, whose birth and death years are pending, was buried in Tuling village, east of Bin County, Shaanxi Province

Ji Qingjie: the son of Ji Gongliu, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji Royal servant: the son of Ji Qingjie, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji chaifei: the son of emperor Ji’s servant, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji Ruiyu: Ji chaifei’s son, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji gongfei: Ji Ruiyu’s son, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji Gaoyun: the son of Ji gongfei, the year of birth and death is pending, and the burial place is pending

Ji Yayun: the son of Ji Gaoyun, the year of birth and death is to be examined, and the burial place is to be examined

Ji sunzu, the son of Ji Yayun, is to be examined for the year of birth and death and the burial place

Gu Gongyu’s father: the son of Ji Gongsun’s ancestor, whose birth and death years are pending, was buried in Qiyang fort, Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province

Ji Li: Ji Gugong and his son, whose birth and death years are pending, were buried in xipoguan village, Hu County, Shaanxi Province

Ji Chang: the son of Ji Jili. The year of birth and death is pending. He was buried in Yuntang village, Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province

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Western Zhou Dynasty:

Ji Fa: the son of King Wen. From 1046 to 1043 BC, King Wu of Zhou was buried in Yuntang village, northwest of Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province

Ji song: the son of Ji Fa. From 1042 to 1021 BC, King Cheng of Zhou was buried in Lingzhao village, ZhouLing Township, Weicheng District, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province

Ji Zhao: the son of Ji Xuan. From 1020 BC to 996 BC, King Kang of Zhou was buried in Lingzhao village, ZhouLing Township, Weicheng District, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province

Ji Xia: the son of Ji Zhao. From 995 to 977 BC, King Zhao of Zhou was buried in Dengfeng City, Henan Province

Ji man: the son of Ji Xia. From 976 to 922 BC, King Mu of Zhou was buried in Chang’an County, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province

Ji Mihu: the son of Ji man. From 921 to 900 BC, he was the king of Zhou Dynasty and was buried in Yuntang village, northwest Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province

Ji Han: the son of Ji Mihu. From 899 to 892 BC, King Yi of Zhou was buried in Xingping City, Shaanxi Province

Ji Pifang: brother of Mihu, 891-886 BC, King Xiao of Zhou, burial place to be examined

Ji Xie: Son of Ji Han, 885-878 BC, king of Zhou Yi, burial place to be examined

Ji Hu: the son of Ji Xie. From 877 to 841 BC, King li of Zhou was buried in Huozhou City, Shanxi Province

In 841 BC, the princes supported Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao to exercise royal power, and Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao jointly ruled for 14 years.

Ji Jing: the son of Ji Hu, King Yi of Zhou, was buried in Yuntang village, northwest Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province from 827 to 782 BC

Ji gongne: the son of Ji Jing. From 781 to 771 BC, king you of Zhou was buried in Songjia village, Daiwang Town, Lintong District, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province