-This era is known as "the Spring and Autumn Period".
-A lot of the info we know about this period comes from the ancient Chinese chronicle "The Spring and Autumn Annals" ("Chunqiu").
-This was the official chronicle of the state of Lu (vassal state of the Zhou dynasty), allegedly compiled by the great Chinese philosopher Confucius (AKA Kongzi) c. 5th century BC.
-Covers c. 722-481 BC.
-The first king of "Eastern Zhou" (as opposed to Western Zhou, although it was all still technically the same "Zhou dynasty") was King Ping (son of King You), who had kindly been allowed to live by the rebel vassal lords who had taken out his dad.
-At this point, though, it was obvious that the throne had no real power, and the kingdom had actually shattered into over 100 different vassal states vying for dominance with no centralized power to keep them in check.
-Of course, some states were bigger than others, and by the end of this period the number of states would be reduced significantly.
-The most powerful of these states were:
-Jin (north)
-Chu (south)
-Qin (west)
-King Ping moved the capital to Luoyang (Henan Province) and ruled for about 50 years before croaking c. 720 BC. Replaced by his grandson, King Huan.
-Like his grandfather, King Huan would have problems with the state of Zheng (center of the kingdom) and especially with its ruler, Duke Zhuang (birth name Ji Wusheng ("Difficult Birth" haha).
-Duke Zhuang was born most likely upside-down (bottom first), so it was extremely painful for his mother, who ended up hating him and preferring her second son, Gongshu, over him. She even went so far as to get Gongshu (who was the lord of the city of Duan) to raise an army and rebel against his older brother.
-Gongshu did this, but when he attacked the capital (Xinheng), he fell into a trap. Duke Zhuang had put his main army outside of the city, so during Gongshu's siege Duke Zhuang was able to surround them!
-Thus, Gongshu took his own life, and Duke Zhuang had his mother imprisoned!
-Later, as Zheng grew in power, King Huan decided to have Duke Zhuang removed from his office as adviser to the king, which resulted in a deterioration of relations between the throne and Zheng.
-Thus, in 707 BC King Huan raised an army and marched to Zheng to punish the duke for his insolence, but his army obviously wasn't strong enough and so unsurprisingly they were defeated, with the king himself being wounded in battle.
-Not only did this severely damage the prestige and reputation of the crown, but it also bankrupted the royal government as well.
-King Huan died c. 697 BC, replaced by his son, King Zhuang.
-We don't know much about this dude except that he ruled for approximately 14 years before dying c. 682 BC.
-Next up was King Zhuang's son, King Xi. At this point, the power of the Zhou dynasty was a joke, as the real power was accumulating with Duke Huan of the state of Qi (see below)!
-Also, it's worth noting that in the south, the state of Chu had been on the rise!
-For a long time it was considered to be a backwater, semi-barbaric state.
-Thus, it was large and strong, but low-ranking.
-Because it was so obvious at this point that the Zhou dynasty was so weakened, the viscount of Chu declared himself King Wu of the new KINGDOM of Chu (not state), with the capital at Danyang (modern-day Nanyang, Henan Province).
-He began to pursue a course of aggressive expansion.
-One story involves his son, Qu Xiao, who was leading an attack against the state of Luo. However, his son was defeated so he (Qu Xiao) committed suicide out of shame, and although King Wu was obviously pissed of by this he excused all of his soldiers for their incompetence (although he did amputate each of their right feet!).
-The kingdom of Chu would actually survive for another 400 years (!) before being swallowed up by the Qin dynasty.
-Because of Chu's aggressive expansion, this actually helped the Zhou dynasty continue to limp along due to its vassal states banding together for fear of Chu invasion.
-During this time, in order to keep the Zhou dynasty's vassal lords united and organized, the Zhou dynasty initiated the "hegemon" system as a way of allocating power and authority.
-Traditionally there are five, but there could have been as many as seven:
-Duke Huan of Qi
-Duke Wen of Jin
-Duke Zhuang of Chu
-Duke Mu of Qin
-Duke Xiang of Song
-King Helu of Wu
-King Goujian of Yue
-Although the first hegemon, Duke Huan was the ruler of the state of Qi, it should be noted that the real brains of the operation was Qi's chancellor, Guan Zhong (also noted for being a proto-Legalist philosopher).
-Under the guidance of Guan Zhong, Qi began expanding rapidly, swallowing up as many as 35 other states!
-King Xi died c. 677 BC, replaced by his son, King Hui.
-Because of the state of Qi's numerous victories, King Hui pronounced Duke Huan hegemon of the Zhou dynasty.
-It wasn't smooth-sailing at the end of Duke Huan's life, however, because Guan Zhong had warned him of a conspiracy among his advisers to overthrow him.
-I guess Duke Huan either didn't act fast enough or didn't take it seriously, because in 643 BC he was imprisoned in his room, where he eventually starved to death!
-Worms were found crawling outside of his room because his corpse had been decaying for so long!
-Of course, because of the power vacuum left by the duke's death, his sons began fighting each other for control of the state of Qi.
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