The China of Confucius Series - Part 2Chou Lords - Confucianism
As the Chou dynasty became older, the descendants of the first feudal lords were no longer under the same necessity of mutual cooperation. Gradually they paid less and less attention to the orders of the king. They fought among themselves more and more frequently, and large and powerful states swallowed up the territory of their weaker neighbors. In 771 b.c., 220 years before Confucius was born, a coalition of feudal lords and "barbarian" tribes attacked the Chou capital in the west. The king was killed, and the "Western Chou" period came to an end. The later kings had their capital to the east, at Loyang in what is now Honan Province; for this reason the later period is known as "Eastern Chou." They were established at Loyang under the protection of certain of the feudal lords, and from this time forward the kings were little more than puppets in the hands of their chief vassals.
The "barbarian" tribes by whom the Chinese states were surrounded were not necessarily men of different race; the distinction was that they did not practice Chinese culture. Over the centuries most of these people were gradually Sinicized and became Chinese, but before this had happened they were a constant menace, poised on the borders to pillage and even to annex Chinese territory at any sign of weakness. As political disunity made the Chinese states less and less capable of concerted defense, it became evident that they must have a leader if Chinese culture were not to perish. But the Chou kings were weak and incapable, and while a number of the feudal lords would have liked to become king, if any one of them threatened to become too powerful the rest banded together to pull him down. Beginning in 679 b.c. a makeshift variety of leadership was developed. A sort of league composed of the eastern Chou states was formed, and the most powerful noble in the league took the title of Pa, First Noble. During the following two centuries several feudal lords held or claimed this title. When they were effective, they collected tribute from those states that recognized their leadership, supervised the common defense, and replaced the king in everything but his religious functions.
In the two centuries between the beginning of the Eastern Chou period (770 b.c.) and the birth of Confucius (551 b.c.), the boundaries of states were shifting, but the situation can be described in a general, schematic way (see map, p. xii). Toward the center of the Chinese world, near the Yellow River, were the states that, in general, preserved Chinese culture nearest to its traditional purity. Especially important in this respect were the royal domain of the Chou kings, the state of Sung (ruled by descendants of the Shang kings), and to the northeast the native state of Confucius, Lu. These and the other small states of the center were more cultured but less powerful and less extensive than the peripheral states. The central states produced thinkers who tended to emphasize peace and human happiness, while many of those who extolled force and "discipline" were men of the peripheral states.
Although the great southern state of Ch'u dominated almost the entire Yangtze Valley, its tremendous potential power was diminished by frequent altercations among its noble families. Culturally, it held somewhat aloof from the Chinese states. Ch'u was originally a "barbarian" state, which only gradually came into the fold of Chinese culture.
The same is probably true to some extent of the great western state of Ch'in, which had its capital in what is now Shensi, near the present Sian. This was the ancient seat of the Chou, but there are indications that the culture of the state of Ch'in differed in significant respects from that of the thoroughly Chinese central states. It seems probable that these differences later facilitated the growth of totalitarianism in Ch'in.
There were two other large and powerful states. Chin had its capital in what is now Shansi Province, and Ch'i included much of what is now Shantung. Ch'i was rich and powerful, and its Duke Huan was the first to seize the place of First Noble, superseding the Chou king in almost everything but name and religious functions. But in defending his title, Duke Huan wore Ch'i out with military expeditions, and after his death in 643 his sons contended for the throne in civil war. Ch'i was so weakened that it never again held the preeminent power. Chou Confucianism - HG Creel
