Zhou dynasty
Eastern Zhou

The Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC) was characterized by an accelerating collapse of royal authority, although the king's ritual importance enabled more than five additional centuries of rule. The Spring and Autumn Annals, the Confucian chronicle of the early years of this process, gave the period its name as the Spring and Autumn period. The partition of Jin during the mid-5th century BC is a commonly cited as initiating the subsequent Warring States period. In 403 BC, the Zhou court recognized Han, Zhao, and Wei as fully independent states. In 344, Duke Hui of Wei was the first to claim the title of "king" for himself. Others followed, marking a turning point, as rulers did not even entertain the pretense of vassalage of the Zhou court, instead proclaiming themselves fully independent kingdoms. A series of states rose to prominence before each falling in turn, and in most of these conflicts Zhou was a minor player.

The last Zhou king is traditionally taken to be Nan, who was killed when Qin captured Wangcheng in 256 BC. Duke Wen of Eastern Zhou declared himself to be "King Hui", was declared, but his splinter state was fully disassembled by 249. Qin's wars of unification concluded in 221 BC with Qin Shi Huang 's annexation of Qi.

The Eastern Zhou is also remembered as the golden age of Chinese philosophy: the Hundred Schools of Thought which flourished as rival lords patronized itinerant scholars is led by the example of Qi's Jixia Academy. The Nine Schools of Thought which came to dominate the others were Confucianism as interpreted by Mencius and others, Legalism, Taoism, Mohism, the utopian communalist Agriculturalism, two strains of the School of Diplomacy, the School of Names, Sun Tzu 's School of the Military, and the School of Naturalists. While only the first three of these would receive imperial patronage in later dynasties, doctrines from each influenced the others and Chinese society in sometimes unusual ways. The Mohists for instance found little interest in their praise of meritocracy but much acceptance for their mastery of defensive siege warfare; much later, however, their arguments against nepotism were used in favor of establishing the imperial examination system.
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