Zhou Dynasty West Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC)

Made China as a Nation “Upholding Proprieties and Ethics”

9 Emperor Wu

Founder of Zhou Dynasty

Emperor Wu (around 1000 BC) founded Zhou Dynasty after conquering Shang Dynasty. Emperor Wu’s father was a warlord of Shang, who was later offered an honored title as “Emperor Wen”. (Chinese words “wen” meant civil and “wu” meant military.) Emperor Wu also initialed a new political system: He divided territory into small ones and granted them to his brothers and meritorious officials, attributing the appearance of many independent sub-states.

Emperor Wu inherited Emperor Yao & Shun’s tradition, ruling the county with a special policy called “Formulating Proprieties & Creating Music” (Rule by Proprieties and Music). He formulated behavior standards for all walks of life, and let everyone know and practice in accordance with the line. He also made music an ideological weapon to refine people’s mind. The policy resulted in Zhou Dynasty to become a society of unprecedented harmony and stability. The heritages of proprieties and music had later become the core of Confucius doctrine.

In recent decades, some historians had alleged that Zhou Dynasty as well as the following Spring & Autumn Period and the Warring States Period belonged to so-called the Slave Society. But as a matter of fact, China had never existed any kind of Slave Society like European countries did.