Spring and Autumn Period

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The Spring and Autumn Period (simplified Chinese: 春秋时代; traditional Chinese: 春秋時代; pinyin: ChÅ«n qiÅ« shí dài) was a period in Chinese history that roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhōu Dynasty (from 770 to 476 BCE) in the alluvial plain of the Yellow River, the Shandong Peninsula and the river valleys of the Huái and Hàn.^[1] Its name comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of LÇ” between 722 and 479 BCE, which tradition associates with Confucius.

During the Spring and Autumn period, China was ruled under a feudal system of fēngjiàn. The Zhōu Dynasty kings held nominal power, but only had real control over a small royal demesne centered on their capital Luò yì.^[2] During the early part of the Zhōu Dynasty period, royal relatives and generals had been given control over fiefdoms in an effort to maintain Zhōu authority over vast territory,^[3] many of these broke up into smaller states when the dynasty weakened.

The most important feudal princes (known later as the twelve vassals), met during regular conferences where important matters, such as military expeditions against foreign groups or offending nobles, were decided. During these conferences, one vassal leader was sometimes declared hegemon^[4] and given leadership over the armies of all the feudal states.

As the era unfolded, larger and more powerful states annexed or claimed suzerainty over smaller ones. By the 6th century BCE, most small states had disappeared and only a few large and powerful principalities dominated China. Some southern states, such as Chǔ and Wú, claimed independence from the Zhōu. Wars were undertaken to oppose some of these states (Wú and Yuè). In the state of Jìn, six powerful families fought for supremacy and a series of civil wars resulted in the splitting of Jìn into six smaller states by the beginning of the fifth century BCE, marking the beginning of the Warring States Period.

Contents 1 Beginning of the Eastern Zhōu Dynasty 2 Interstate relations 3 Changing tempo of war 4 Detailed history 5 Table of States 6 Important figures 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Further reading 10 External links

Beginning of the Eastern Zhōu Dynasty

After the Zhōu capital was sacked by the Marquess of Shēn and Quǎnróng barbarians, crown prince Jī Yíjìu was crowned by his royal supporters as King Píng of Zhōu and moved the Zhōu capital east from the now desolated Zōngzhōu,^[5] to Chéngzhōu, in the Yellow River Valley, where the Zhōu royalty could be closer to its main supporters;^[6] particularly Zhèng, Qí, and Jìn. Nevertheless, the Zhōu royal family had much weaker authority and relied on lords from these vassal states for protection, especially during their flight to the eastern capital. With the Zhōu domain greatly reduced to Chéngzhōu and nearby areas, the court could no longer support six groups of standing troops as it had in the past; Zhōu kings had to request help from neighbouring powerful states for protection from raids and for resolution of internal power struggles. The Zhōu court would never regain its original authority; instead, it was relegated to being merely a figurehead of the feudal states. Though the king de jure retained the Mandate of Heaven, the title held no actual power.

With the decline of Zhōu power, the Yellow River drainage basin was divided into hundreds of small, autonomous states, most of them consisting of a single city, though a handful of multi-city states, particularly the four that surrounded the others, had power and opportunity to expand outward.^[7] A total of 148 states are mentioned in the chronicles for this period.^[8]

While the Zhèng rulers initially supported the Zhōu royalty, relations soured enough that Duke Zhuāng of Zhèng (757–701 BCE) raided Zhōu territory in 707 BCE, defeating King Húan's army in battle and injuring the king himself; the display of Zhèng's martial strength lasted until succession problems after Zhuāng's death weakened the state.^[9]

Interstate relations

Shortly after the royal family's move to Chéngzhōu, a hierarchical alliance system arose where the Zhōu king would give the title of hegemon or bà to the leader of the state with the most powerful military; the bà was obligated to protect both the weaker Zhōu states and the Zhōu royalty from the intruding non-Zhōu peoples:^[10][11] Northern Dí, Southern Mán, Eastern Yí and Western Róng. This political framework retained the fÄ“ngjiàn power structure, though interstate and intrastate conflict was characterized by a disregard for feudal customs, respect of the JÄ« family, or solidarity with other Zhōu peoples;^[12] because it was given through the king, military leadership garnered legitimacy useful in mobilizing interstate military ventures designed to protect Zhōu territory, including smaller states that would be otherwise taken over by "barbarians."^[13]

Over the next two centuries, the four most powerful states–Qín, Jìn, Qí and Chǔ–competed with each other for power. Amid rapid expansion^[14] and low-level warfare, interstate diplomacy was also commonly used to solidify alliances not based on kinship and to sanction legal agreements made between states.^[15] These multi-city states also used the pretext of aid and protection to intervene and gain suzerainty over the smaller states.

Ancient sources such as the Zuǒ Zhuàn and Chūnqiū record the various diplomatic activities, such as court visits paid by one ruler to another (cháo 朝), meetings of officials or nobles of different states (huì 會), missions of friendly inquiries sent by the ruler of one state to another (pìn 聘), emissaries sent from one state to another (shǐ 使), and hunting parties attended by representatives of different states (shou 狩).

Because of Chǔ's non-Zhōu origin, its rulers, beginning with Mǐ Xióng Tōng in 704 BCE, proclaimed themselves kings and the state was considered Mán or barbarian. Chǔ intrusion into Zhōu territory was checked several times by the other states, particularly in three major battles: the Battle of Chéngpū (632 BCE), the Battle of Bì (595 BCE) and the Battle of Yānlíng (575 BCE); this resulted in the restorations of the states of Chén and Cài.

The first bà was Duke Huán of Qí (r. 685-643 BCE). With the help of his minister, Guǎn Zhòng, Duke Huán reformed Qí to centralize its power structure. The state consisted of 15 xiāng; with the duke and two senior ministers each in charge of five xiāng and military functions were united with civil ones. These and other related reforms provided the state, already powerful from control of locations important to interstate trade, with a greater ability to mobilize resources than other, more loosely organized states.^[16] By 667 BCE, Qí had clearly shown its economic and military dominance over other states and Duke Huán assembled the leaders of Lǔ, Sòng, Chén, and Zhèng, who elected him leader over them. Soon after, King Hùi of Zhōu gave him the official title of bà, giving Duke Huán royal authority in military ventures.^[17][18]

With royal authority in his military ventures, Duke Huán:^[19]

• intervened in a power struggle in Lu;
• protected Yān from encroaching Róng nomads (664 BCE);
• drove off Dí nomads after they'd invaded [Wei (Spring and Autumn Period)|Wèy]] (660 BCE) and Xíng (659 BCE), providing the people with provisions and protective garrison units;
• led an alliance of eight states to conquer Cài and thereby block the northward expansion of ChÇ” (656 BCE);

At his death in 643 BCE, five of Duke Huán's sons contended for the throne, causing enough state discord that the bà title moved to another ruler.

Changing tempo of war

After a period of increasingly exhaustive warfare, Qí, Qín, Jìn and Chǔ met at a disarmament conference in 579 BCE and agreed to declare a truce to limit their military strength.^[20] While this peace didn't last very long, it soon became apparent that the bà role had become outdated; the four major states had each acquired their own spheres of control and the notion of protecting Zhōu territory had become less cogent as the control over (and the resulting cultural assimilation of) non-Zhōu peoples, as well as Chǔ's control of some Zhōu areas, further blurred an already blurry distinction between Zhōu and non-Zhōu.^[21] In addition, new aristocratic houses were founded with loyalties to powerful states, rather than directly to the Zhou kings, though this process slowed down by the end of the seventh century BCE, possibly because territory available for expansion had been largely exhausted.^[22]

Amid conflict between Jìn and Chǔ, two coastal states with dubious Zhōu ties, Wú^[23] and Yuè,^[24] grew in power as they gained relevance in interstate affairs.^[25][26] While Jìn and Chǔ agreed to a truce in 546 BCE to address wars over smaller states, Wú maintained constant military pressure on Chǔ and even launched a full-scale invasion in 506 BCE.^[27] After defeating and forcing the suicide of King Fuchāi of Wú, King Gōujiàn of Yuè (r. 496–465 BCE) became the last bà.

Amid the interstate power struggles, internal conflict was also rife: six elite landholding families waged war on each other in Jìn; the Chen family was eliminating political enemies in Qí; and legitimacy of the rulers was often challenged in civil wars by various royal family members in Qín and Chǔ. Once all these powerful rulers had firmly established themselves within their respective dominions, the bloodshed focused more fully on interstate conflict in the Warring States Period, which began in 403 BCE when the three remaining elite families in Jìn – Zhào, Wèi and Hán – partitioned the state.

Detailed history

There were at least 154 states of which about 15 were significant powers. States would grow weaker as power flowed from a duke to his nobles. A vigorous duke might centralize power and lead his state to a brief period of prominence. Several states lost their power when a duke's death led to a succession dispute. Power tended to shift to the states on the frontier since they had more room for expansion. The smaller states (at least 128 of them) were gradually annexed by the larger ones.

The Period of Jìn (636–558 BCE): Jìn was located in southern Shanxi northeast of the Zhōu capital and expanded to the north and east. Duke Xian of Jìn (676–651 BCE) centralized the state by extinguishing the power of various branches of his family. He conquered sixteen smaller states and a number of Róng and Dí peoples. His son, Duke Wén of Jìn (636–628 BCE) came to the throne after a nineteen-year exile in various states. In 635 BCE Wen restored King Xiang of Zhōu and was rewarded with territory near the royal capital. In 632 BCE he blocked the expansion of Chǔ at the Battle of Chengpu, probably the largest battle in the Spring and Autumn period. Shortly after he held a conference of the various states and was given the title of Ba. In 627–624 BCE there were wars with Qín in the west, in 598 BCE Chǔ defeated Jìn at the battle of Mi and in 589 BCE Jìn defeated Qí in the east. In 579 BCE, under Duke Li of Jìn, Jìn, Chǔ, Qí and Qín held a peace conference and agreed to limit their armies (this is perhaps the earliest recorded disarmament conference). Jìn and its allies defeated Chǔ at Yanling in 574 BCE. After Duke Li was killed, Duke Dao of Jìn (572–558 BCE) strengthened the state and was recognized as Bà.

The Aggression of Chǔ (c 656–546 BCE): Chǔ was located on the southern frontier along the middle Yangzi River. Its growth was probably connected with the southward expansion of Chinese population and civilization. It expanded northeast annexing Zhōu states in the Han River valley, north taking over Zhōu states on the central plain and northeast conquering non-Zhōu peoples in the Huai River valley. This expansion was resisted by Qi and Jìn (see above).

The slow rise of Qín (771–546 BCE): In the century after the expulsion of the Zhōu king from the Wèi River Valley Qín gradually took control of the region and absorbed many of the local Róng – a process that is poorly documented. Qín had the great advantage of a natural fortress "within the passes". By around 650 BCE it was involved in wars with Jìn, its only significant neighbor. The effect was to militarize both states.

A four-way Balance of Power (circa 546 BCE): By the sixth century BCE there were four major powers: Qín (west), Jìn (center), Chǔ (south) and Qí (east). Most of the lesser states were on the North China Plain between Jìn and Qí. This situation was confirmed by a conference at Shangqiu in 546 BCE in which many of the lesser states were officially recognized as satellites.

The rise of Wú and Yuè (c 583–465 BCE): Wú and Yuè were originally non-Zhōu states near the lower Yangzi River east of Chǔ. Yuè was along the coast and Wú to the north of it and somewhat west. Like Chǔ, their growth may be connected with the southward expansion of Chinese civilization. From about 583 BCE Jìn began to aid Wú as a counterweight to Chǔ. Wú took control of several Chǔ vassals and began to participate in Zhōu politics. In 506 BCE Wú launched a major war against Chǔ which led to its near collapse. In 496 BCE the king of Wú died during an invasion of Yuè. His son, King Fuchāi of Wú nearly destroyed the Yuè state, defeated Qí, threatened Jìn and in 482 BCE held an interstate conference. While Fuchāi was in the north, Yuè captured the Wú capital. Fuchāi rushed back but was besieged and died when the city fell (473 BCE). Yuè was now the strongest state in China and was the last proper Bà.

The Partition of Jìn (497–403 BCE) marks the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and is often assigned to the Warring States Period. After the great age of Jìn power, the Jìn dukes began to lose power to their nobles. In 497 BCE the nobles began a full-scale civil war. By 453 BCE there were only four major clans left and in that year the three weaker clans destroyed the stronger, leaving only Han, Wèi and Zhào. In 403 BCE they divided the Jìn state between themselves. This left only seven major states in the Zhōu world: the three fragments of Jìn, the three remaining great powers of Qín, Chǔ and Qí and the weaker state of Yān near modern Beijing. The partition of Jìn marks the beginning of the Warring States Period.

Table of States

A total of 148 states are mentioned in the chronicles for this period.^[28]

States of the Spring and Autumn Period

Name	Chinese ( Trad./Simp.)	Capital (s)	Established	Dissolved
Bā	巴	Yíchéng (夷城) Píngdū (平都) Zhĭ (枳) Jīangzhōu (江州) Diànjīang (垫江) Lánzhōng (阆中)	unknown	316 BCE
Cài	蔡	Shàngcài (上蔡) Xīncài (新蔡) Xiàcài (下蔡)	Before 1043 BCE	447 BCE
Cáo	曹	Táoqiū (陶丘)	Before 1043 BCE	487 BCE
Chén	陳/陈	Wănqiū (宛丘)	c. 1046 BCE	479 BCE
Chéng	郕	(Western Zhōu Period 1066 – 770 BCE) In the vicinity of the Zhōu capital Haojing 郕 (Chéng), Shandong	c. 1100 BCE	unknown
Chŭ	楚	Dānyáng（丹陽/丹阳）c. 1030 – c. 680 BCE Yĭng (郢) c.680 – 278 BCE Chén (陳/陈) 278 – 241 BCE Shòuchūn (寿春) from 241 – 224 BCE	c. 1030 BCE	223 BCE
Dào	道	Dào (possibly north of modern day Quèshān County, Henan or south of Xī County, Henan)	unknown	unknown
Dèng	鄧/邓	Dèngzhōu, Henan Province or Xiāngfán, Hubei Province	c. 1200 BCE	678 BCE
Dōng Guó	東虢/东虢	unknown	1046 BCE	767 BCE
È	鄂	Xiangning County, Shanxi Province, Nanyang, Henan Province, Ezhou Hubei Province	c. 1200 BCE	863 BCE
Huá	滑	Fèi 費/费	unknown	627 BCE
Jìn	晉/晋	Táng (唐), renamed Jìnyáng (晉陽/晋陽) Qŭwò (曲沃) Jiàng (絳/绛) also known as Yì (翼) Xīntián (新田), renamed Xīnjiàng (新絳新绛)	11th century BCE	376 BCE
Jŭ	莒	Jiegen (介根), south west of modern day Jiaozhou, Shandong Province Ju (莒), modern day Ju County, Shandong Province	11th century BCE	431 BCE
Lái	莱/萊	Changle (昌乐), modern day Changle County, Shandong Province	11th century BCE	567 BCE
Liáng	梁	Hánchéng (韩城)	unknown	641 BCE
Liăo	蓼/廖国/飂	Tanghe County (唐河县), Henan	unknown	unknown
Liăo	蓼国 Book of Rites 缪蓼	Liao town, northeast of Gushi County, Henan Province	unknown	622 BCE
Lǔ	魯/鲁	Lǔshān (魯山) Yǎnchéng (奄城) Qǔfù (曲阜)	11th century BCE	256 BCE
Lǚ	吕/呂	West of modern Nanyang, Henan	unknown	early Spring and Autumn Period
PÄ«	邳	Xuecheng (薛城), 30 km south of Tengzhou, Shandong Province Lower Pi (下邳), North east of Pizhou City, Shandong Province Upper Pi (上邳), West of the Xuecheng District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province	11th century BCE	unknown
Qí	齊/齐	Yíngqiū (營丘/营丘)	1046 BCE	221 BCE
Qǐ	杞	Qǐ (杞)	16th century BCE	445 BCE
Qín	秦	XÄ«chuí (西垂) Yōng (雍) ? – 350 BCE Xiányáng (咸阳) 350 – 206 BCE	9th century BCE	206 BCE
Quán	权/權	South east of Dangyang, Hubei Province	unknown	704 BCE
Ruò	鄀	Shāngruò (上鄀)/Shāngmì (商密) Xìaruò (下鄀)	unknown	unknown
Shēn	申	Nányáng (南阳)	unknown	between 688 and 680 BCE
Shŭ	蜀	possibly Sānxīngduī (三星堆)	Before 1046 BCE	316 BCE
Sòng	宋	Shāngqiū (商丘)	11th century BCE	286 BCE
Suí	随/隨	Suízhōu (随州)	Early Spring and Autumn Period	unknown
Téng	滕	Téng (滕)	Before 1043 BCE	mid 4th century BCE
Wèi	魏	Anyi (安邑), north west of modern day Xia County, Shanxi Province Daliang (大梁), modern day Kaifeng City, Henan Province	403 BCE	225 BCE
Wèy	卫/è¡›	ZhāogÄ“.(朝歌) Cáo (曹) ChÇ”qiÅ« (楚丘) DìqiÅ« (帝丘) YÄ•wáng (野王)	11th century BCE	209 BCE
Wú	吴/吳	Wú (吳/吴), sometimes referred to as Gūsū（姑蘇/姑苏）	11th century BCE	473 BCE
Xī	息	Xī Xiàn (息县)	1122 BCE	Between 684 and 680 BCE
Xī Guó	西虢/西虢	Yōngdì (雍地) Shàngyáng (上阳) Xiàyáng (下阳)	1046 BCE	687 BCE
Xíng	邢	Xingtai City, (邢台市)	11th century BCE	632 BCE
Xú	徐	Tangcheng (郯城)	c. 20th century BCE	512 BC
Xŭ	許/许 (or 鄦)	Xŭ (鄦) Yè (叶) Báiyŭ (白羽) Róngchéng (容城)	c. 11th century BCE	c. 5th century BCE
Yān	燕	Jì (薊)	11th century BCE	222 BCE
Yù	郁	unknown	unknown	unknown
Yuè	越	KuàjÄ« (會稽/会稽) 489 – 468 BCE Lángyá (琅琊) 468 – 379 BCE Wú (吴/吳) 379 – 334 BCE KuàjÄ« (會稽/会稽) 333 – 306 BCE	c. 11th century BCE (38 generations before King Gōujiàn of Yuè)	306 BCE
Zhèng	鄭/郑	Zhèng (鄭/郑) Xìnzhèng (新郑)	806 BCE	375 BCE
Zhōngshān	中山	Lingshou County, Hebei Province	6th century BCE	325 BCE
Zōu or ZhÅ«	é„’/邹 or 邾	ZhÅ« (邾) South east of Qufu, Shandong Province é„’/邹 South east of Zoucheng City, Shandong Province	11th century BCE	4th century BCE
Key:
Hegemon
Note: Capitals are shown in their historical sequence.

Important figures

Bà

Traditional history lists five bà during the Spring and Autumn Period:

• Duke Huán of Qí (齊桓公)
• Duke Wén of Jìn (晉文公)
• King Zhuāng of ChÇ” (楚莊王)
• Duke Mù of Qín (秦穆公)
• Duke Xiān of Sòng (宋襄公)

An alternative list is replaces the final two:

• King Fuchāi of Wú (吳王夫差)
• King Gōujiàn of Yuè (越王勾踐)

Bureaucrats or Officers

Guǎn Zhòng (管仲) important advisor of Duke Huán of Qí

Bǎilǐ Xī (百里奚), famous prime minister of Qín.

Bó Pǐ, （伯噽）bureaucrat under King Hélǘ who played an important diplomatic role in Wú-Yuè relations.

Wén Zhǒng (文種) and Fàn Lǐ (范蠡), the two advisors of King Gōujiàn in his rally against Wú.

Zǐ Chǎn, （子產）leader of self-strengthening movements in Zhèng

Influential scholars

Confucius（孔子）, leading figure in Confucianism

Laozi （老子）or Lao tse, teacher of Daoism

Mòzǐ (墨子) or "Mocius" (also "Micius"), founder of Mohism

Sun Tzu （孫子）the author of The Art of War

Other people

Lǔ Bān（鲁班）

Yào Lí （要离）sent by King Hélǘ to kill Qìng Jì（庆忌）.

Zhuān Zhū（专渚） sent by Hélǘ to kill his cousin King Liao

References

Bibliography

• Chinn, Ann-ping (2007), The Authentic Confucius, Scribner, ISBN 0743246187 
• Higham, Charles (2004), Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations, Infobase Publishing 
• Hsu, Cho-yun (1990), "The Spring and Autumn Period", in Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L., The Cambridge history of ancient China: from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C., Cambridge University Press, pp. 545-586, http://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC 
• Lewis, Mark Edward (2000), "The City-State in Spring-and-Autumn China", in Hansen, Mogens Herman, A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures: An Investigation, 21, Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Society of Arts and Letters, pp. 359-374 

Further reading

• Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66991-X (paperback).

External links

• Rulers of the states of Zhōu, linked to their occurrences in classical Chinese texts

v d e Eastern Zhou Dynasty topics Spring and Autumn Ba • Cai • Cao • Chen • Chu • Deng • Dong Guo • Hua • Jin • Liang • Lu • Qí • Qǐ • Qin • Shen • Shu • Song • Teng • Wei • Wu • Xi • Xi Guo • Xu • Yan • Yu • Yue • Zheng • Zhi Warring States Seven States: Chu • Han • Qi • Qin • Wei • Yan • Zhao; Minor States: Ba • Cai • Lu • Shu • Song • Teng • Yue • Zheng • Zhongshan • Zou

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