Western Zhou

The Western Zhou period (1046–771 BC) was the first half of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye. The dynasty was successful for about seventy-five years and then slowly lost power. The former Shang lands were divided into hereditary fiefs which became increasingly independent of the king. In 771,the Zhou were driven out of the Wei River valley; afterwards real power was in the hands of the king's nominal vassals.

Civil war

Few records survive from this early period and accounts from the Western Zhou period cover little beyond a list of kings with uncertain dates. King Wu died two or three years after the conquest. Because his son, King Cheng of Zhou was young, his brother, the Duke of Zhou assisted the young and inexperienced king as regent. Wu's other brothers (Shu Du of Cai, Guan Shu, and Huo Shu), concerned about the Duke of Zhou's growing power, formed an alliance with other regional rulers and Shang remnants in a rebellion. The Duke of Zhou stamped out this rebellion and conquered more territory to bring other people under Zhou rule.

Zhou dynasty

The Zhou dynasty (Chinese: 周朝; pinyin: Zhōu cháo [tʂóʊ tʂʰɑ̌ʊ]) was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang dynasty and preceded the Qin dynasty. Although the Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty, surnamed Ji (Chinese: 姬), lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as the Western Zhou.

This period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making. The dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved into its modern form with the use of an archaic clerical script that emerged during the late Warring States period.

History

Foundation

Mytholographical origins

According to Chinese mythography, the Zhou lineage began when Jiang Yuan, a consort of the legendary Emperor Ku miraculously conceived a child, Qi "the Abandoned One", after stepping into the divine footprint of Shangdi. Qi was a culture hero credited with surviving three abandonments by his mother and with greatly improving Xia agriculture, to the point where he was granted lordship over Tai and the surname Ji by his own Xia king and a later posthumous name, Houji "Lord of Millet", by the Tang of Shang. He even received sacrifice as a harvest god. The term Hòujì was probably an hereditary title attached to a lineage.

Wu Zetian

Wu Zetian (February 17, 624 – December 16, 705), also known as Wu Zhao, Wu Hou, and during the later Tang dynasty as Tian Hou, referred to in English as Empress Consort Wu or by the deprecated term "Empress Wu", was a Chinese sovereign who ruled unofficially as Empress and later, officially as Emperor of China (皇帝) during the brief Zhou dynasty (周, 684-705), which interrupted the Tang dynasty (618–690 & 705–907). Wu was the only female emperor of China in more than four millennia.

Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death, she married his successor - his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's huanghou (皇后, variously translated as "empress", "wife", or "empress consort") in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 690, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, a position equal as emperor, until 705.

The importance to history of Wu Zetian's period of political and military leadership includes the major expansion of the Chinese empire, extending it far beyond its previous territorial limits, deep into Central Asia, and engaging in a series of wars on the Korean peninsula, first allying with Silla against Goguryeo, and then against Silla over occupation of formerly Goguryeo territory. Within China, besides the more direct consequences of her struggle to gain and maintain supreme power, Wu's leadership resulted in important effects regarding social class in Chinese society and in relation to state support for Taoism, Buddhism, education, and literature. Wu Zetian also had a monumental impact upon the statuary of the Longmen Grottoes and the "Wordless Stele" at the Qianling Mausoleum, as well as the construction of some major buildings and bronze castings that no longer survive.

Wu Sangui

Wu Sangui (Chinese: 吳三桂; pinyin: Wú Sānguì; Wade–Giles: Wu San-kuei; courtesy name Changbai (長白) or Changbo (長伯); 1612 – 2 October 1678) was a Chinese military general who was instrumental in the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644. Considered by traditional scholars as a traitor to both Ming, and ultimately, Qing, Wu in 1678 declared himself Emperor of China and ruler of the "Great Zhou", but his revolt was eventually quelled by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Early life and service under Ming

Wu was born in Gaoyou, Jiangsu province to Wu Xiang and Lady Zu. Under the patronage of his father Wu Xiang and maternal uncle Zu Dashou, he quickly rose to the rank of full General (Zong Bing) at the young age of 27.

Wu was one of the generals in 1640 at the Battle of Songjin, in which Qing forces defeated the Ming armies, but he escaped capture.

Defection to Qing

On 27 May 1644, Wu opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhai Pass to let Qing forces into China proper, forming an alliance with the Manchus. Wu ordered his soldiers to wear a white cloth attached to their armor, to distinguish them from Li Zicheng's forces.