Editing Zhou dynasty (section)

===Eastern Zhou===
{{Main|Eastern Zhou}}
[[File:States of Zhou Dynasty.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Major states during the Eastern Zhou]]
{{Continental Asia in 500 BCE|right|The Zhou dynasty and contemporary polities {{circa|500&nbsp;BC}}}}
The Eastern Zhou period (771–256&nbsp;BC) was characterized by an accelerating collapse of royal authority, although the king's ritual importance enabled more than five additional centuries of rule. The ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', the Confucian chronicle of the early years of this process, gave the period its name as the [[Spring and Autumn period]]. The [[partition of Jin]] during the mid-5th century&nbsp;BC is a commonly cited as initiating the subsequent [[Warring States period]].{{sfnp|Hucker|1978|p=37}} In 403&nbsp;BC, the Zhou court recognized [[Han (Warring States)|Han]], [[Zhao (state)|Zhao]], and [[Wei (state)|Wei]] as fully independent states. In 344, [[Duke Hui of Wei]] was the first to claim the title of "king" for himself. Others followed, marking a turning point, as rulers did not even entertain the pretense of vassalage of the Zhou court, instead proclaiming themselves fully independent kingdoms. A series of states rose to prominence before each falling in turn, and in most of these conflicts Zhou was a minor player.

The last Zhou king is traditionally taken to be [[King Nan of Zhou|Nan]], who was killed when [[Qin (state)|Qin]] captured Wangcheng in 256&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Chengzhou"/> [[Duke Wen of Eastern Zhou]] declared himself to be "King Hui", but his splinter state was fully disassembled by 249. [[Qin's wars of unification]] concluded in 221&nbsp;BC with [[Qin Shi Huang]]'s annexation of [[Qi (state)|Qi]].

The Eastern Zhou is also remembered as the golden age of Chinese philosophy: the [[Hundred Schools of Thought]] which flourished as rival lords patronized itinerant scholars is led by the example of Qi's [[Jixia Academy]]. The [[Nine Schools of Thought]] which came to dominate the others were [[Confucianism]] as interpreted by [[Mencius]] and others, [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]], [[Taoism]], [[Mohism]], the utopian communalist [[Agriculturalism]], two strains of the [[School of Diplomacy]], the [[School of Names]], [[Sun Tzu]]'s [[School of the Military]], and the [[School of Naturalists]].<ref name="chiphi">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1997 |title=Axial Thinkers and the Formation of Philosophical Schools |encyclopedia=Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=osxPipnXeN0C&pg=PA466 |editor-last=Carr |editor-first=Brian |page=466 |isbn=978-0-415-03535-4 |editor2-last=Mahalingam |editor2-first=Indira |via=Google Books}}</ref> While only the first three of these would receive imperial patronage in later dynasties, doctrines from each influenced the others and Chinese society in sometimes unusual ways. The Mohists for instance found little interest in their praise of meritocracy but much acceptance for their mastery of defensive siege warfare; much later, however, their arguments against nepotism were used in favor of establishing the [[imperial examination]] system.