Download The Zhou Dynasty:

The Zhou Dynasty:
China’s Longest running dynasty
Do-Now:
• Agree or disagree:
A good leader is one who thinks only about the
best interest of his people.
Aim:
• How did the Zhou dynasty rule its territories?
Zhou settled along the Wei River
Mandate of Heaven:
• Connected religious life and political life.
• The monarch was called the “son of heaven”
• Tian, the Zhou’s highest deity (god), gives the
ruler authority as long as he is just and acts in
the welfare of his people.
• Heaven could withdraw this “mandate” and
give it to a more worthy ruler and family.
HOW DOES THIS MANDATE CREATE STABILITY?
Feudalism
KING:owns
land.
Lords/Nobles: Get land
from King and pay him
with loyalty , products an
military.
Peasants/farmers work the land
, serve the military and do
public service work.
Where do priests and artisans fit in?
• Priests did important
work like reading oracle
bones.
• Artisans created
beautiful and useful
tools and artifacts out
of bone, bronze and
jade.
Problem
• New states grew around
the central states and it
was difficult to rule
them and maintain
order.
Solution
Bureaucrats
• A new class of public officials who were
mostly teachers and scholars and who would
advise rulers about correct behavior.